President Donald Trump has vowed that North Korea will never acquire the ability to launch a nuclear missile.
But, if the Hermit Kingdom is somehow able to get one off, there is a plan already in place to deal with such a missile, according to a new report from The Daily Caller. China/Asia-Pacific Reporter Ryan Pickrell reports:
South Korea and Japan both rely on tiered missile defense. Stage two of South Korea’s three-stage defense system is the Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) system, which is designed to intercept incoming missiles. To bolster that defense system, the U.S. recently began the process of deploying a THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) battery to South Korea, after North Korea fired four missiles into the Sea of Japan.
China expressed concerns the THAAD X-band radar could be used to peer into its own territory, so the U.S. has agreed to configure THAAD in terminal mode in an effort to ease concerns. In terminal mode, the radar has a range of several hundred miles and can facilitate the elimination of missiles in the terminal phase of flight. THAAD can also be configured to forward-base mode, which extends the radar’s range so THAAD can target projectiles in the initial or launch phase.
But, as he notes, anti-missile systems have their limitations. Basically, they shoot a bullet with the goal of hitting another bullet that has already been fired, which is almost as difficult as it sounds.
Those systems, the report states, have gaps in them. And, North Korea is working to develop tactics that would overwhelm those defensive capabilities.
Click here to read the entire report. {eoa}
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