Guam is the furthest U.S. territory from the continental United States, has a population of close to 200,000 U.S. Citizens, and is the closest to North Korea of the United States homeland. Guam is home to our nation’s forward based nuclear strike capability to provide assurance to our allies and deterrence against our adversaries in the Asian theater and has helped provide stability in the region since the end of World War II, when it became a U.S. Territory. U.S. B-1 and B-52 bombers from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam recently flew to the Korean Peninsula, per Presidential order, in a show of force to respond to North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile testing (Link to news article on the show of force). There is also a United States Submarine base in Guam that will be increasing an additional Submarine for more presence in their patrols of the Pacific waters around Asia. The USAF base and the Navy base along with the massive underground fuel and munitions depot, the biggest in the Pacific for the United States, makes Guam an important strategic location for the United States and a high priority target for North Korea.

North Korea has developed, tested and deployed a specific intermediate range ballistic missile with the capability to strike Guam, called the Musudan. The Musudan has a range of 3,500 km and has had eight live demonstration tests this year alone, with another test likely this month (link). Coupled with a nuclear weapon, of which North Korea has had five demonstrated tests with two of them this year, presents a very real and extremely dangerous threat to Guam. There may be as many as 50 Musudan missiles in North Korea’s current inventory (link) with around 30 Transporter Erector Launchers (TELs) that can launch from multiple different locations. It takes approximately a little under 20 mins for a Musudan missile fired from North Korea to strike Guam.

To counter this particular threat from North Korea, the United States deployed its newest missile defense system called the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) into Guam. In 2013 President Obama, in anticipation of the Musudan threat from North Korea, made a decision to begin a slow buildup of a single THAAD battery, which began with a minimum amount of interceptors and launchers. Created under Task Force Tallon, a THAAD battery and its crew, along with a U.S. Army infantry company rotated in 12 month deployments from Fort Bliss, Texas where the five THAAD batteries are housed today. The THAAD battery today is comprised of one X-band TPY -2 discrimination radar, six launchers that can hold eight THAAD interceptors each, and two fire control trucks along with self-power and cooling and is manned by 95 U.S. Army Air Defense Soldiers. THAAD has the very unique capability of intercepting an incoming ballistic missile in exo-atmosphere and in endo-atmosphere, thereby creating a layered defense and using the missile’s re-entry as a natural discriminator giving the system two shot opportunities for every targeted missile. In doing the simple math, with an approximate 30 North Korean launchers, Guam would require 60 THAAD interceptors at maximum capability on a perfect scenario. Realistically, closer to 48 THAAD interceptors would be a solid solution, which one THAAD battery is easily capable of. This is the THAAD solution going into South Korea next year and should be the THAAD solution for Guam today.

Getting full capability for the single THAAD battery in Guam must be a top priority for the stability of assurance for our allies provided by the deterrence from our strategic air and naval bases in Guam. The THAAD battery is the first and only line of defense for the U.S. territory closest to North Korea against the Musadan intermediate-range ballistic missile that is continuing to be tested and in their inventory.