Thursday, July 6, 2017

US missile defense may not protect against nukes

US missile defense systems may not protect against a North Korean nuclear attack, an expert in the field said Wednesday.
 
According to Global Security Program at the Unite of Concerned Scientists Co-director physicist David Wright, the $40 billion Ground-based Midcourse Defense System has only a 50% success rate.
 
"You simply wouldn’t rely on it," Wright told The Post. "It has been tested 18 times in the last 12 to 15 years, and even under the controlled circumstances of tests, it has failed half the times."
Though the Air Force in May did successfully launch an interceptor, that was the first time it had been tested against the type of missile North Korea tested earlier this week. And according to Wright, the system won't work well in an emergency, since it can't figure out which type of missiles Kim Jong-un will use.
 
The US currently has 36 ICBM interceptors — 32 in Alaska at Fort Greely and four in California at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The number is expected to increase to 44 by the end of 2017.
 
Meanwhile, Pentagon Spokesperson Navy Captain Jeff Davis said, "We do have confidence in our ability to defend against the limited threat, the nascent threat that is there."
 
"It's something we have mixed results on. But we also have an ability to shoot more than one interceptor."
 
"Over the next four years, the United States has to increase its current capacity of our deployed systems, aggressively push for more and faster deployment," Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance Founder Riki Ellison said. READ MORE