Dear Members and Friends,

Today, North Korea has locked and loaded two of their Musudan intermediate-range missiles, a variation of the Russian SSN-6.  These missile are on their East Coast and directly face Japan and have the range to reach all of Japan (Okinawa included), South Korea, and Guam.

Between these North Korean missiles and their potential intended targets lays our most comprehensive and successful sea-based missile defense platform, Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ships. From January 2002 to the most recent test on the 12th of February of this year off the coast of Hawaii, these ships have had 24 successful intercepts against ballistic missiles.

In the Pacific Ocean, today, the United States Navy has five Aegis BMD ships forward deployed out of Japan, six Aegis BMD ships forward deployed out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and five Aegis BMD ships out of San Diego, California. The majority of the 16 Aegis BMD ships that are out to sea are in international waters surrounding the Korea Peninsula and between North Korea and their potential targets, to include Alaska and Hawaii. The United States Aegis BMD ships are joined by the four Kongo class Aegis Class BMD ships of Japan that are in these same waters between the North Korean missiles sites and their country of Japan.

Anyone of these Aegis BMD ships will provide a complete and full defense of Japan, Okinawa, Guam, and parts of South Korea from these locked and loaded Musudan intermediate-range missile on the East Coast of North Korea. Collectively, all of these ships provide a tremendous force multiplier that cover vast areas with their layered missile defenses that provide reliability and great confidence in their protection and defense of the millions of people that reside in this region of the Asian Pacific.

All of these Aegis BMD Ships deployed provide detection and tracking of North Korean launched missiles as to share that information between all of the Aegis BMD ships at sea as well as our nation’s ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California that protect Hawaii, Alaska and the continental 48 states. These Aegis BMD ships will provide detection and tracking information for the upcoming THAAD deployment in Guam. Further, these BMD ships will use sensor data from the DSP/GEO space satellites and the forward based AN/TPY-2 radar in Shariki, Japan to help queue their AN/SPY-1 radars and Aegis weapon systems.

U.S. and Japanese Aegis BMD Ships all use SM-3 Block IA interceptor missiles, AN/SPY-1 radars, and an Aegis fire control system that targets the interceptions of incoming ballistic missiles with movable kill vehicles that precisely create a direct impact within inches of the incoming ballistic missile warhead using pure kinetic energy in space.

The current threat of the locked and loaded North Korean Musudan intermediate-range missiles are greatly diminished by the presence and capability of our nation’s Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense ships and the Japanese Kongo Class Ballistic Missile Defense ships who have the proven capability to track, discriminate, and successfully destroy ballistic missiles in flight.

The millions of lives at jeopardy in this region are grateful that our nation and Japan have invested, developed, and deployed these missile defense systems, such as the Aegis BMD ships, that are protecting them today against North Korea.

These great platforms, in these waters, that are manned by close to 300 sailors per ship are preserving peace, preventing escalation of conflict, and stopping a war.

We give great credit to those men and women aboard these ships who are doing this great and needed mission.

It is all for one and one for all against North Korea.