Missile interceptor hits its target

A ballistic missile target simulating an intermediate-range North Korean threat that was launched by aircraft north of Hawaii was successfully intercepted Tuesday by a defensive missile in a key test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, officials said.

The successful test boosts the credibility of the system, intended to counter short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles, which is deployed to Guam and whose introduction in South Korea led to objections from China and Russia.

The THAAD system, located in Kodiak, Alaska, detected, tracked and intercepted the intermediate-range target, which for testing purposes was launched from an Air Force C-17 cargo plane rather than from land, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.

The truck-mounted THAAD can be used to intercept ballistic missiles inside or outside the atmosphere in the terminal, or final, phase of flight.

“Intercepting a warhead during this phase is difficult and the least desirable of the phases because there is little margin for error and the intercept will occur close to the intended target,” the Missile Defense Agency said on its website.

But THAAD batteries also are globally transportable and rapidly deployable. The system has a perfect track record of 14 flight intercepts in 14 tests.

“This is a historic first for the THAAD system to intercept a missile of this speed and range and a significant notable engineering accomplishment,” Riki Ellison, chairman of the nonprofit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said in a news release.

AN Intermediate-range ballistic missile can travel between 1,800 and 3,100 miles, with Guam about 2,100 miles from North Korea, Ellison noted.

Experts say THAAD is not designed for the extreme closing speeds of longer-range North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles that could reach Hawaii.

“Little hard to know exactly what range (Tuesday’s test) was, but that could be as short as 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles). That’s sort of the bottom end of the range of intermediate,” said David Wright, a physicist and co-director of the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security Program. “And if you compare how fast that’s going with how fast an ICBM would be going, it’s a kilometer or two per second slower than that.”

THAAD, which has eight missiles per launcher, an AN/TPY-2 radar and fire control center, was tested multiple times out of the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai starting in 2007. Earlier this year the Missile Defense Agency said it wanted to shift THAAD testing to Alaska’s Kodiak Island for the type of drill conducted Tuesday.

When North Korea announced the planned test of a long-range rocket in 2009 with an azimuth in the direction of Hawaii, then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he had “directed the deployment” of THAAD missiles in the state and ordered the Sea-Based X-Band Radar to sea to “provide support.” The THAAD deployment is seen as having questionable value.

A THAAD battery is partially operational in South Korea, with China and Russia raising concern over the increasing U.S. missile defense capabilities on the Korean Peninsula.

Ellison said the United States has six operational THAAD batteries, with a seventh coming online in 2018. Three are deployed in Guam and South Korea and as part of a “global response force” based in Texas, with the others providing a supporting role, he said.

The Missile Defense Agency said preliminary indications are that the “threat-representative” intermediate-range ballistic missile target was successfully engaged by THAAD Tuesday.

“This test further demonstrates the capabilities of the THAAD weapon system and its ability to intercept and destroy ballistic missile threats. THAAD continues to protect our citizens, deployed forces and allies from a real and growing threat,” Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves said in a release.

The system uses “hit-to-kill” technology in which the kinetic energy of an impact destroys the incoming target.