The problems with U.S. anti-missile defense system

President Trump's response to North Korea's ballistic missile tests, the anticipation of a sixth underground nuclear test and their threat to the U.S. and its allies was widely reported as he claimed to send a Naval strike group to the East China Sea. Prior to this, however, the President had also reportedly sent attack drones to the Korean Peninsula and the THAAD anti-missile defense system to South Korea, to protect them from possible incoming missiles from the North.

While the U.S. says that the THAAD system can target incoming short-range missiles with precision, government investigators, scientists and even former Former acting director and deputy director of the CIA Mike Morell are skeptical of the system that protects the U.S. from long-range missiles: In an April 14 interview with Michael Morell on Charlie Rose, the former intelligence official said that when the North Koreans tested multiple ballistic missiles at once in March and last year, it posed another threat because it showed what they hadn't shown before, that they could fire multiple missiles at their enemies and possibly overwhelm their defense systems.

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Japan to Build More Aegis Destroyers

The Defense Ministry plans to order two more Aegis destroyers capable of intercepting ballistic missiles in view of the continuing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

The ministry will soon start negotiations with the Finance Ministry on the plan to bring the number of Aegis destroyers operated by the Maritime Self-Defense Force to eight. Four of the MSDF’s six Aegis destroyers are currently equipped with the missile defense system that can shoot down ballistic missiles in space.

At least two are needed to cover the entire Japanese archipelago with the ballistic missile defense system, though more provide better protection. To deal with a long-range ballistic missile threat from North Korea last December, the MSDF deployed two Aegis destroyers in the East China Sea and one in the Sea of Japan. In the spring, two were deployed in the Sea of Japan to brace for the launch of North Korea’s Musudan medium-range missiles as the other two were undergoing maintenance. As the threat continued, some critics pointed out the inadequacy of the missile defense structure.