Kuam News:

Days after top military officials from the United States and Republic of Korea jointly warned North Korea from Naval Base Guam, KUAM News got a firsthand look at the island’s billion-dollar missile defense system. It can defend against ballistic missile threats from any adversary – and the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery is now permanently stationed here in Guam.

It is the first forward deployed THAAD battery outside the Continental United States, it has been tested in areas throughout the Pacific Region over a dozen times, and has a 100% success record. It can deter against long-range ballistic missiles and is able to strike in both the endo- and exo-atmosphere.

Lieutenant Colonel Jeff Slown said, “We engage missiles in what we call the ‘terminal phase of flight’, a missile has the three phases: the boost phase, mid-course phase and terminal phase.”  THAAD relies on a network of satellite, land and sea based sensors throughout the globe that can detect ballistic missile threats. One of these is located at Andersen Air Force Base and is so powerful, that a safety zone surrounds it, protecting soldiers from the radiation it emits.

Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Morgan said the system relies on both human and computer capabilities, and is proven against cyber attacks. He added, “As part of the missile defense agency that’s one of our director’s priority – cyber.” He continued, “There have been teams that have come out and crossed all of Anderson [Air Force Base], all of Guam, for vulnerabilities to include looking at our system because we are a critical asset.”…

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