The GMD system, rushed into the field by President George W. Bush for political reasons, remains, at best, a 'prototype'.
By comparison, the 2014 annual budget for the National Institutes of Health is $31.3 billion. As a research scientist, this is frustrating when the NIH has experienced a >22% loss in constant dollars since 2003.
Also keep in mind: The GBI (that's what Vandenberg calls them - "Ground Based Interceptors") system rests on the shoulders of our $40bln failed SDI program ($65bln adjusted for inflation, roughly) and our roughly $18bln investment in the failed Patriot Missile program. You know, mk, I know a guy who did his thesis on gene therapy. Except instead of using a garden-variety adenovirus or retrovirus, he used muthafukkin' ebola. THAT CAT has been working constantly since he graduated. Granted, he's spent a lot of time in bunkers, but hey. Go where the money is, right?
True enough. Colleagues of mine have captured DOD money for research in neurorestoration. Lots of traumatic brain injuries from the last decade. I suppose I am also chasing money outside of my interests to some extent, but Boognish knows I didn't get into this line of work for the money. The whole model is in serious need of disruption. I can imagine it coming in a few forms, but as it stands labs are dying on the vine and the NIH has no real solutions. At this point, I'd like to see an alt-IH that worked as an autonomous corporation, funded by something like bitcoin. Qualifying members would get some fraction of the funds, and all research findings and IP would be open-access.