Breaking Defense:

A new study of US missile defenses has found that — after 70 years and some $350 billion in investment — no “system thus far developed has been shown to be effective against realistic ICBM threats” to the homeland. It’s a conclusion with which the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency begs to differ.

The study by the American Physical Society (APS) examined a hypothetical North Korean strike and current missile defense systems, such as ground-based interceptors, as well as more futuristic options in development, like directed energy weapons and space-based interceptors. It found today’s capabilities inadequate and future systems unlikely to do the job of defending the country in the next 15 years at least — even from a small number of North Korean missiles.

“Creating a reliable and effective defense against the threat posed by even the small number of relatively unsophisticated nuclear-armed ICBMs that it considers remains a daunting challenge,” the Feb. 9 APS report, called “Ballistic Missile Defense: Threats and Challenges” finds…

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