Download or read book The Attack Operations Pillar of Theater Missile Defense: The Need for a Joint Effort written by and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 13 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The threat of a theater ballistic missile attack against military forces of the United States turned from theory to reality the evening of January 18, 1991 That night Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein launched the first of eighty-six SCUD missiles against Saudi Arabia and Israeli. The launching of the ballistic missiles exposed a major weakness of the United States military. As a result, significant efforts to develop a defense against ballistic missile attack has been a high priority mission for the Department of defense (DoD). The DoD ballistic missile defense focuses on two aspects - theater missile defense (TMD) and national missile defense. The first priority of the ballistic missile defense initiative is the rapid development and deployment of theater missile defense to protect forward deployed US and allied forces and allied population centers. National missile defense, the second priority, provides for security against strategic missile threat to the mainland of the United States.