Scout:
The US, Japan and South Korea are planning a joint, two-day ballistic missile defense exercise in Pacific waters as a show of resolve and defensive technical competence in light of North Korean attack threats.
The drills will be held in waters off the coast of Japan on Monday and Tuesday, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said during a visit to a garrison in northern Japan, German news outlet Deutsche Welle reported.
The exercise comes following a U.S. Missile Defense Agency and U.S. Army successful missile defense test using the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system. The test, and joint exercises are, at least in part, aimed at further assessing possible upgrades to THAAD enabling it to intercept longer-range ballistic missile attack. Lockheed has long been developing an “extended range” THAAD, called THAAD-ER, engineered to extend the weapon’s intercept range out to at least 150 kilometers. Such a technology, if implemented, could be of great consequence regarding an ability to counter medium and long range North Korean ballistic missile attacks…
