Defense Industry Daily
The acting South Korean President Hwang Kyo-ahn has urged the U.S. to move forward with the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system on the peninsula. Hwang, who was speaking on behalf of impeached President Park Guen-hye, warned that North Korea “has been expanding its nuclear capabilities and developing the technology to create nuclear weapons. They are also miniaturizing nuclear weapons,” and that “right now is not the time to talk to try to resolve North Korea’s nuclear issues.” In return, China has called for the cancellation of THAAD, citing that the system’s radar could penetrate its own territory.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is a long-range, land-based theater defense weapon that acts as the upper tier of a basic 2-tiered defense against ballistic missiles. It’s designed to intercept missiles during late mid-course or final stage flight, flying at high altitudes within and even outside the atmosphere. This allows it to provide broad area coverage against threats to critical assets such as population centers and industrial resources as well as military forces, hence its previous “theater (of operations) high altitude area defense” designation…
