Start GRASP/Korea Can the US Defend Against a North Korean ICBM?

Can the US Defend Against a North Korean ICBM?

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NewsHubWhen North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said in a New Year’s address that his country was on the verge of testing a missile that could one day reach the United States, Washington retorted that it was ready to stop it.
What Carter didn’t say on either occasion was that the United States might not be able to intercept such a missile at all. In fact, experts say, Washington’s defenses against such an attack are extremely limited despite decades of research and $180 billion spent since the 1980s.
“The Aegis system is not designed for that,” Reif said. “Nor is THAAD. GMD would only have a chance if it’s fired at the United States.”
Dr. Laura Grego, a missile defense expert at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said GMD had shown mixed results in tests so far.
“The GMD system has not had a great number of intercept tests, but of the 17, nine of them have been unsuccessful, and the record is not improving over time,” she said.

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