Only a few short years ago, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) was having to explain why it was suffering multiple testing failures. In one particularly embarrassing case, the agency couldn’t even get an interceptor out of its silo, much less destroy a ballistic missile target.

Now, MDA’s approach is changing, and success in testing is no longer elusive. U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry (Trey) Obering, who has been at the helm of the controversial project to develop a layered system against ballistic missiles since mid-2004, says the system is maturing. And progress is evidenced, he says, by a string of flight tests that have resulted in intercepts—as well as by his plans to add complex targets and realism to the testing scenarios for the key components of the system.

“It is absolutely remarkable how far we’ve come,” Obering tells Aviation Week & Space Technology. “What we have to do now is to turn our attention to make sure we can fully wring out the system in a variety of operational and realistic scenarios. And that is what we will be doing over the next couple of years.”

Earlier this decade, the Pentagon encountered a series of technical and quality control problems, including surprises with fielding operational versions of prototype systems that led to a sequence of test failures. So, Obering says, the agency turned back to basics, slowed testing and focused on managing and vetting the quality of its systems.

Driving the Pentagon’s urgency to field a missile defense system is the ballistic missile threat from either North Korea or Iran. Though China has been cited as a budding military adversary, especially after its successful anti-satellite test in January, it is seen as restrained with respect to its ballistic missile arsenal and posture with the West.

The U.S. has fielded and is conducting nascent operations of the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, which includes radars around the globe and silo-based interceptors in Alaska and California. This system is positioned to counter threats from North Korea, and though Pyongyang has agreed to back away from plans for a nuclear arsenal, the Pentagon intends to continue fielding interceptors.

An expansion of the system, which includes shifting a tracking radar from the Pacific region to the Czech Republic and fielding interceptors in Poland, is designed to protect the U.S. and parts of Europe ballistic missiles launched from Iran. Those areas not covered by the GMD system would be shielded by other systems that would intercept missiles in their terminal phases of flight.

Obering is engaged in a balancing act on multiple fronts. While his job is to oversee the technical development of the system, he is also in the midst of an international dialog between the U.S. and Russia. Moscow has adamantly opposed the U.S. plans, citing concerns that interceptors near its border with Europe could engage its intercontinental ballistic missiles and nullify its own strategic deterrent.

Obering is constantly exploring opportunities for industrial cooperation with allies abroad. Most recently, he visited Ukraine, which was a powerhouse of technical expertise in missiles and rocketry for the former Soviet Union.

Likewise, at home, Obering is continuing to try to implement these plans with a Congress dominated by Democrats who are largely skeptical of the system. In the recently passed Fiscal 2008 defense budget, Congress sliced $85 million from the plan to expand defenses to Eastern Europe. Obering says he can “live with” the cut, though it could delay site activation by six months or more.