The head of U.S. Northern Command said yesterday that the military is prepared to eliminate an incoming North Korean ballistic missile, Agence France-Presse reported (see GSN, March 16).
(Mar. 18) -
The United States has deployed missile interceptors on Aegis-class cruisers, such as the USS Lake Erie (Getty Images).
"If we felt the North Koreans were going to shoot a ballistic missile at us today, I am comfortable that we would have an effective system that would meet that need," Air Force Gen. Victor Renuart, who also leads the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said during a hearing on Capitol Hill.
North Korea is seen as a "very limited threat," Renuart said while discussing the capabilities of land-based U.S. missile defense systems.
"North Korea is the system that we're fixed on," he said.
Pyongyang tested its Taepodong 2 long-range missile in July 2006, only to see the weapon fail in less than a minute. The regime has announced its intention to fire a rocket that will carry a satellite into orbit between April 4 and 8, but Washington and other capitals fear that North Korea actually intends to launch another missile.
Concerned nations say any launch would violate a U.N. Security Council resolution approved after Pyongyang's 2006 missile and nuclear tests. The United States and Japan have both indicated that they were prepared to fire on any threatening object launched from North Korea (Agence France-Presse I/Yahoo!News, March 17).
A U.S. decision would have to be made in mere minutes, AFP reported.
Navy destroyers and cruisers operating in the Sea of Japan could use Aegis ballistic missile defense systems to bring down a missile or rocket in its boost phase, though at that point it would not be obvious where the object was heading.
"You don't know from the path it's going on at that point whether it's headed to put something into space or to reach the U.S. or somewhere close," said RAND Corp. analyst Bruce Bennett.
"By the time you get over the Pacific depending upon the design of their system, they may or may not have released the satellite, but you have a better idea of whether it's really trying to head toward the United States or put something into orbit," he added.
Ground-based interceptors in Alaska or California could be used against a missile later in flight, though doubts persist about the effectiveness of the technology. The Defense Department said the system has racked up 37 successes in 47 tests.
The Obama administration would likely need support from the U.N. Security Council to fire on a North Korean missile and has not indicated that it is doing the diplomatic groundwork for such an eventuality, AFP reported.
"I'm dubious that we will or that we should," in the absence of a clear danger to Japan or approval from the Security Council, said Brookings Institution analyst Michael O'Hanlon (Dan De Luce, Agence France-Presse II/Yahoo!News, March 17).
Japan's Cabinet this month is expected to give necessary approval for deploying Patriot Advanced Capability 3 interceptors that could be fired against a North Korean rocket if it was going to endanger Japanese territory, Reuters reported. Two Aegis destroyers armed with Standard Missile 3 interceptors might also be posted in the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean, Kyodo News reported (Jack Kim, Reuters, March 18).
Meanwhile, South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said today that the North's rejection of
further U.S. food aid is "an answer" to multilateral warnings against a rocket launch and a current U.S.-South Korean military exercise, the Associated Press reported (Foster Klug, Associated Press/Seattle Times, March 18).