The Korea Times:
The commanding general of the Eighth U.S. Army said Tuesday the presence of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea will provide a strengthened layered defensive shield along with the existing Patriot air defense system.
Lt. Gen. Thomas S. Vandal said the THAAD will provide much larger missile defense coverage than the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC) system, which will help defend the nation considerably at a time when North Korea is advancing its nuclear and missile technologies.
He made the remark during a meeting with a group of journalists at U.S. Army Garrison (USAG) Yongsan in central Seoul.
“The Patriot is point defense. You put it in a certain area in the airfield to defend that airfield. The THAAD is an area defense system that covers a much larger area,” he said. “Right now, we have the point defense system. THAAD covers a larger area and covers different layers of the atmosphere. So, depending on trajectories (of North Korean ballistic missiles), we can shoot them down at different locations.”
THAAD is designed to intercept incoming missiles at high altitudes of 40 to 150 kilometers, while the PAC-2 and PAC-3 system is capable of shooting them down at low altitudes of 20 and 40 kilometers, respectively.
The commander stressed that THAAD will provide air defense capability at a much higher level, which provides “another level of safety” and that the system is exclusively for defense against North Korean ballistic missiles, apparently wary of China’s protest against THAAD deployment.
South Korea and the United States announced in July that the advanced U.S. anti-missile system will be stationed in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, by the end of next year. Beijing has been strongly protesting, claiming that the THAAD radar can spy on the country’s military capabilities.
Regarding questions about the effectiveness of THAAD to defend against the North’s submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), the commander said THAAD and the Patriot, together with Aegis-equipped destroyers, will collectively provide different levels of coverage from different sites.
“Aegis provides additional coverage out there,” he said.
In August, Pyongyang test-fired an SLBM that flew about 500 kilometers and splashed down in waters under Japan’s Air Defense Identification Zone in the East Sea, showing a significant improvement from past tests. At the time, critics said that THAAD would not be able to defend the nation if the North’s submarines launch ballistic missiles from waters off the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula, given that THAAD is designed to shoot down North Korean missiles fired from the north.
As for the exact timing of the THAAD deployment, Vandal said, “It is based upon the negotiation on the location. Specifically, conditions should be set to ensure that the location is prepared for the actual THAAD system to be on the ground.”
He added that the timeline could fluctuate based on the ongoing negotiations, for example, between the South Korean government and Lotte Group, the owner of the land selected as a site to host the battery.
Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense is currently conducting negotiations with Lotte Group to acquire a group-owned golf course in Seongju County. The government announced Lotte Skyhill Country Club as a location for THAAD on Sept. 30.
Commenting on a massive $10.8 billion project to relocate the United States Forces Korea (USFK), the commander called it “the greatest change” since the Seoul-Washington alliance began in 1950.
Allies previously signed two major relocation plans ― the Yongsan Relocation Plan (YRP) and the Land Partnership Plan (LPP). The YRP is to vacate Yongsan Garrison, relocating most facilities and forces including the USFK and the Eighth Army headquarters to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, by 2017, while the LPP will redeploy the 2nd Infantry Division (2ID), now stationed north of Seoul, also to Pyeongtaek….
