The Pentagon envisions a three-phase NMD to protect all of the 50 United States: 

Phase One
Assuming the U.S. gives the green light to NMD in 2003, Phase One could become operational around 2006. It is designed to counter a limited attack or accidental launch involving a few dozen ICBMs (the exact number is classified), each carrying a single warhead using simple “penetra-  tion aids.” (Penetration aids, is Pentagon-ese for decoys, chaff and other countermeasures to overcome defenses.) 
Phase One would feature:

• An initial 20 Ground-Based Interceptor rockets (GBIs) based at a single site in central Alaska, with the gradual addition of 80 more. 
• Five Upgraded Early Warning Radars (UEWRs) in California, Alaska, Massachusetts, Great Britain and Greenland.
• An X-Band Radar facility in Alaska's Aleutian Islands.
• Defense Support Program satellites, to be replaced by four Space-Based InfraRed System (SBIRS) HIGH and six SBIRS-LOW satellites.
• Three In Flight Communications Systems (IFCS): two in Alaska and one in the eastern U.S.
• Two Battle Management Command, Control and Communications systems (BM/C3s), one at Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado; the other at the Alaskan launch site.

Phase Two 
The second phase would add two, possibly three, X-Band radars in Alaska, California and a third site to be determined. Estimated cost: $5 billion.

Phase Three 
The third phase would expand NMD to handle some 50 ICBMs with single warheads and simple penetration aids, or an estimated 25 single-warhead ICBMs with sophisticated countermeasures. (Again, the precise numbers are classified.) 
Phase three would feature:
 

• 25 more GBIs at the Alaskan launch site and a second launch site with 125 GBIs, possibly in North Dakota;
• The original five UEWRs bolstered by five SBIRS HIGH and 24 SBIRS LOW satellites;
• Three additional X-Band radars (at locations to be determined); additional IFCSs and another BM/C3 at the second launch site. 

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