SIMI VALLEY (California) • The agency tasked with protecting the US from missile attacks is scouting the West Coast for places to deploy new anti-missile defences, two Congressmen have said, as North Korea’s missile tests raise concerns about how the country would defend itself from an attack..
SIMI VALLEY (California) • The agency tasked with protecting the US from missile attacks is scouting the West Coast for places to deploy new anti-missile defences, two Congressmen have said, as North Korea’s missile tests raise concerns about how the country would defend itself from an attack.
West Coast defences would likely include Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (Thaad) anti-ballistic missiles, similar to those deployed in South Korea to protect against a potential North Korean attack.
The accelerated pace of North Korea’s ballistic missile testing programme this year and the likelihood that its military could hit the US mainland with a nuclear payload in the next few years has raised the pressure on the US government to build-up missile defences.
Last Wednesday, North Korea tested a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile that can fly more than 13,000km, placing the entire United States mainland within target range, South Korea said last Friday. But Seoul also said Pyongyang still needs to prove it has mastered critical missile technology, such as re-entry, terminal stage guidance and warhead activation.
Congressman Mike Rogers, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee and chairs the Strategic Forces Subcommittee which oversees missile defence, last Saturday said the Pentagon’s Missile Defence Agency (MDA) was aiming to install extra defences at West Coast sites.
