SENSE OF CONGRESS ON BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE.

SEC. 231. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE. It is the sense of Congress that—(1) the United States should develop, test, field, and maintain operationally-effective and cost-effective ballistic missile defense systems that are capable of defending the United States, its forward-deployed forces, allies, and other friendly nations from the threat of ballistic missile attacks from nations such as North Korea and Iran;(2) the missile defense force structure and inventory levels of such missile defense systems should be determined based on an assessment of ballistic missile threats and a determination by senior military leaders, combatant commanders, and 123 STAT. 2232 defense officials of the requirements and capabilities needed to address those threats; and(3) the test and evaluation program for such missile defense systems should be operationally realistic and provide a high level of confidence in the capability of such systems (including their continuing effectiveness over the course of their service lives), and adequate resources should be available for that test and evaluation program (including interceptor missiles and targets for flight tests).