Deployment Proves Missile Defense Value

Bruce Klingner / June 19, 2009

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates ordered the deployment of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to defend Hawaii should a pending North Korean long-range missile launch pose a threat to the US. The mobile ground-based missile defense system would augment longer-range missile interceptors based in Alaska. The US has also deployed the sea-based X-Band Radar (SBX) from Pearl Harbor to increase detection and intercept capabilities. The Obama administration was criticized for not deploying the highly capable radar prior to North Korea’s April launch of a long-range Taepo Dong-2 (TD-2) missile.

Augmenting the defense of Hawaii is a proper and prudent response to the potential for another North Korean long-range missile test. International diplomatic pressure has failed to (more…)