USN has insufficient number of BMD ships to meet combatant commanders’ demands

U.S. combatant commanders around the world have been requesting for more BMD-capable cruisers and destroyers in the past few years. However, the U.S. Navy will soon be unable to meet those requests.

US Navy 060525-N-0000X-002 A standard missile - 2 (SM-2) is launched from the Pearl Harbor-based Aegis cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) as part of a U.S. Navy missile defense demonstration
By U.S. Navy photo [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The service currently has 33 ships capable of BMD, yet by fiscal 2016, the need is expected to jump to 77 ships.

Source: Alert 5