PAC-3 missiles are high-velocity interceptors against incoming threats, including tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircrafts.
Thirteen nations –Germany, Japan, Kuwait, Netherlands, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sweden, Romania, Taiwan, UAE and United States– have chosen PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE (Missile Segment Enhancement) to provide missile defense capabilities.
The upgraded PAC-3 MSE expands the lethal battlespace with a dual-pulse solid rocket motor, providing increased performance in altitude and range. PAC-3 MSE is a high-velocity interceptor against incoming threats, including tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircrafts.
The missile uses Hit-to-Kill technology, which engages threats through kinetic energy via body-to-body contact. In words of Jay Pitman, vice president of PAC-3 programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, "PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE give our customers unmatched, combat-proven hit-to-kill technology to address growing and evolving threats. PAC-3 and PAC-3 MSE are proven, trusted and reliable interceptors that employ hit-to-kill accuracy, lethality and enhanced safety to address dangers around the world."
There are currently no imminent nuclear threats against the United States at this time, but let us go summarize the today-and-now status quo regarding the main actors on the main stages of a possible WW3
UNITED STATES vs RUSSIA
As the United States continues to consider withdrawing from the intermediate range nuclear weapon treaty, Russia has warned of an “efficient response” if the United States deploys intermediate-range missiles in Europe, implicity threatening any country that hosts U.S. nuclear weapons.
INDIA vs PAKISTAN and CHINA
India’s first domestically built nuclear-powered submarine has completed its first patrol in a signal to both Pakistan and China and now says its nuclear triad is complete.
China has begun construction on third aircraft carrier
IRAN
Iran has test-fired a medium range ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple warheads.
NORTH KOREA vs UNITED STATES and SOUTH KOREA
North Korea has threatens to restart nuclear weapons programme if U.S. does not provide sanctions relief.
It must be noted that North Korea has continued to expand operations at its main nuclear site and that South Korea spy agency have reported that North Korea is continuing to miniaturize nuclear warheads.
United States say it may resume large-scale joint military exercises with South Korea if there continues to be no tangible progress on the denuclearization of North Korea.
RUSSIA vs UKRAINE
Russia has attacked and captured Ukraine vessels in the Sea of Azov.
While Ukraine makes noises of war, no other country seems to be moving in that direction.
The United States has stated that the current crises is an European problem, indicating that the U.S. will not get involved.
Additionally, Germany has refused a request to get involved.
This does not mean that escalation is not possible.
This is highly dependent on what Russia will do and how NATO will respond.
Concerned that the missile defense system designed to protect American cities is insufficient by itself to deter a North Korean attack, the Trump administration is expanding its strategy to also try to stop Pyongyang’s missiles before they get far from Korean airspace.
Congressional documents are actually talking about “additional investments” in “boost-phase missile defense.” The goal is to hit long-range missiles at their point of greatest vulnerability: while their engines are firing and the vehicles are stressed to the breaking point, and before their warheads are deployed.
In interviews, defense officials, along with top scientists and senior members of Congress, describe the effort as a response to the unexpected progress that North Korea has made in developing ICBMs capable of delivering a nuclear bomb to the continental United States: “It is an all-out effort,” said Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who returned from a lengthy visit to South Korea last month, convinced that the United States needed to do far more to counter North Korea. “There is a fast-emerging threat, a diminishing window, and a recognition that we can’t be reliant on one solution.”
One first approach is to have stealth fighters such as the F-22 or the F-35 scramble from nearby bases in South Korea and Japan at the first sign of North Korean launch preparations. The jets would carry conventional air-to-air missiles, which are 12 feet long, and fire them at the North Korean long-range missiles after they are launched. But they would have to fly relatively close to North Korea to do that, increasing the chances of being shot down.
A second approach -hinted at in an emergency request to Congress last week for $4 billion to deal with North Korea- envisions the stepped-up use of cyber weapons to interfere with the North’s control systems before missiles are launched. Using cyber weapons to disrupt launches is a radical innovation in missile defense in the past three decades, but in the case of North Korea it is also the most difficult: It requires getting into the missile manufacturing, launch control and guidance systems of a country that makes very limited use of the internet and has few connections to the outside world — most of them through China, and to a lesser degree Russia.
And a third approach is to develop a UAV that would fire potent laser beams at rising missiles. But recent plans would have it make its debut no sooner than 2025 — too late to play a role in the current crisis or the Trump presidency.
Back in 2016 – after the United States and South Korea decided that US Forces Korea would deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defence shield system in South Korea – relations between Beijing and Seoul fell off a cliff.
China unofficially sanctioned South Korean firms, including Lotte, the conglomerate that would eventually cede land to the South Korean government in the country’s south to allow for a deployment of the missile system. For Beijing, the US deployment of THAAD was never about the missile interceptors: Rather, Beijing has long expressed open concern – even through its foreign minister – about the powerful X-band AN/TPY-2 radar that accompanies the THAAD system.
A decade later, New Delhi has finally begun setting up a two-layer ballistic missile defense shield that initially will protect New Delhi and Mumbai. The Prithvi Air Defense (PAD) system will provide long-range high-altitude ballistic missile interception during an incoming missile’s midcourse phase, while the Advanced Air Defense system offers short-range, low-altitude defense against missiles in the terminal phase of their trajectory. Reportedly the first batteries have begun installation in two villages in Rajasthan.
At first glance, the Prithvi Air Defense missile seems quite capable, with a range of 1,250 miles and a maximum altitude of 260,000 feet, making it an exospheric interceptor. The missile is programmed prior to launch by the BMD command center on an intercept trajectory, which it maintains using an inertial navigation system. It receives midcourse updates to its trajectory using data from the Swordfish radar, and then in the terminal approach phase switches to its own active radar seeker and destroys the target with a proximity-fused warhead.
For defense at low-altitudes, the solid-fuel Advanced Air Defense system, or Ashwar, uses an endospheric (within the Earth’s atmosphere) interceptor that knocks out ballistic missiles at a maximum altitude of 60,000 to 100,000 feet, and across a range between 90 and 125 miles for local defense. The AAD has performed successfully in most tests against targets at altitudes of 50,000 feet, though an improved model failed a test in April 2015 before succeeding in subsequent attempts. It is claimed the Mach 4.5 missile might also have application against cruise missiles and aircraft.
However, a major limitation of the PAD is that the second phase of the two-stage rocket uses liquid fuel. As liquid rocket fuel corrodes fuel tanks when stored for long, the PAD could not be on standby 24/7. Instead, it would need to be gassed up during a period of crisis in anticipation of trouble. This is less than ideal for a weapon intended to defend against an attack which might come at any moment.
In mid-March, China banned the sale of group tours to Seoul in retaliation against the installation of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in southeastern South Korea, which Beijing sees as a security threat. The move has dealt a harsh blow to local duty-free shops, as Chinese tourists were their main customers.
Industry leader Lotte Duty Free saw its sales fall 6.6 percent on-year to 2.6 trillion won ($2.3 billion) during the January-June period, with its operating income nose-diving 97 percent to 7.4 billion won. The company posted an operating income of 37.2 billion won in the first quarter, but it plummeted to an operating loss of 29.8 billion won in the second quarter.
¿What means THAAD?
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), formerly Theater High Altitude Area Defense, is an American anti-ballistic missile defense system designed to shoot down short, medium, and intermediate range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase (descent or reentry) by intercepting with a hit-to-kill approach.
THAAD was developed after the experience of Iraq's Scud missile attacks during the Gulf War in 1991. The THAAD interceptor carries no warhead, but relies on its kinetic energy of impact to destroy the incoming missile. A kinetic energy hit minimizes the risk of exploding conventional warhead ballistic missiles, and the warhead of nuclear tipped ballistic missiles will not detonate on a kinetic energy hit.
¿What means Scud?
Scud is a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
The term comes from the NATO reporting name "Scud" which was attached to the missile by Western intelligence agencies.
The Russian names for the missile are the R-11 (the first version), and the R-17 (later R-300) Elbrus (later developments).
The name Scud has been widely used to refer to these missiles and the wide variety of derivative variants developed in other countries based on the Soviet design.
There are currently no imminent nuclear threats against the United States. However, there are events that are currently occurring that require closer monitoring. Let's see them below:
1) The United States and North Korea continue to face each other and the tension is increasing: On the part of the United States there are large numbers of men and material displaced towards the Korean peninsula.
On the part of North Korea that country continues advancing in its nuclear program.
2) The situation in the area is very volatile and tension can be aggravated at any time: the United States has deployed 100 F-16 fighter planes on South Korean soil with which it has been carrying out exercises in South Korean airspace on a regular basis during some time. Considering that such exercises often take place prior to an attack -as in the case of Operation Desert Storm- I can suppose a pre-emptive strike at any date against major strategic targets in North Korea, which could be carried out initially using F-35 and Tomahawk missiles. How would North Korea react? At best -that is, in the event that the US pre-emptive strike with the F-35s and Tomahawks knocks out North Korea's anti-aircraft defenses, the artillery pieces aimed at Korea South, and all its nuclear missile launchers- we could hope a quick and definitive solution to the South Korean problem. However, if the first attack does not achieve its objectives, South Korea's reaction may include attacks with weapons of mass destruction directed against any US allied territory that may be within its reach, especially South Korea and Japan. If it could also reach the bases of the United States in other areas of the Pacific and even attack the American continent, the situation would become unpredictable.
3) Another possibility that does not deserve to be dismissed in any way is that North Korea launches a first preventive attack against the United States, generating an electromagnetic pulse on its territory. That pulse would be generated by the detonation of a nuclear device housed in one or both of the two earth observation satellites KMS 3-2 and KMS-4 put into orbit by North Korea in April 2012 and February 2016 respectively. In that case, the negative consequences would be of all kinds: massive blackouts, total communications outages, destruction of electronic systems for airplanes, automobiles, trucks and trains, and all the ensuing chaos: Crashed planes, collapsed roads , Emergency services inoperative, etc.
When Iran attempted to launch a cruise missile from a “midget” submarine earlier this week, Pentagon officials saw more evidence of North Korean influence in the Islamic Republic – with intelligence reports saying the submarine was based on a Pyongyang design, the same type that sank a South Korean warship in 2010.
According to U.S. defense officials, Iran was attempting to launch a Jask-2 cruise missile underwater for the first time, but the launch failed. Nonproliferation experts have long suspected North Korea and Iran are sharing expertise when it comes to their rogue missile programs: “The very first missiles we saw in Iran were simply copies of North Korean missiles,” said Jeffrey Lewis, a missile proliferation expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. “Over the years, we've seen photographs of North Korean and Iranian officials in each other's countries, and we've seen all kinds of common hardware.”
When Iran tested a ballistic missile in late January, the Pentagon said it was based on a North Korean design. Last summer, Iran conducted another missile launch similar to a North Korean Musudan, the most advanced missile Pyongyang has successful tested to date. Defense analysts say North Korea's Taepodong missile looks almost identical to Iran's Shahab: “In the past, we would see things in North Korea and they would show up in Iran. In some recent years, we've seen some small things appear in Iran first and then show up in North Korea and so that raises the question of whether trade -- which started off as North Korea to Iran -- has started to reverse,” Lewis added.
Iran’s attempted cruise missile launch from the midget submarine in the Strait of Hormuz was believed to be one of the first times Iran has attempted such a feat. In 2015, North Korea successfully launched a missile from a submarine for the first time, and officials believe Tehran is not far behind. During testimony last week, Adm. Harry Harris, the head of American forces in the Pacific, warned the United States has no land-based short- or medium-range missiles because it is a signatory to the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, treaty signed in 1987 between Russia and the United States. But Iran and North Korea are under no such constraints: "We are being taken to the cleaners by countries that are not signatories to the INF,” Harris told the House Armed Services Committee late last month.
Perhaps most worrisome for the United States is that Iran attempted this latest missile launch from a midget sub Tuesday in the narrow and crowded Strait of Hormuz, where much of the world's oil passes each day. Over a year ago, Iran fired off a number of unguided rockets near the USS Harry Truman aircraft carrier as she passed through the Strait of Hormuz in late December 2015. The U.S. Navy called the incident “highly provocative” at the time and said the American aircraft carrier was only 1,500 yards away from the Iranian rockets.
In July 2016, two days before the anniversary of the nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, the Islamic Republic attempted to launch a new type of ballistic missile using North Korean technology, according to multiple intelligence officials. It was the first time Iran attempted to launch a version of North Korea’s BM-25Musudan ballistic missile, which has a maximum range of nearly 2,500 miles, potentially putting U.S. forces in the Middle East and Israel within reach if the problems are fixed.
As you know, THAAD has been deployed to South Korea by the US in response to North Korea's increased missile and nuclear tests. This deployment has drawn sharp opposition from China and Russia, whose territory is within the system's range.
Regarding China, this country expressed again its displeasure last Tuesday 2nd May, urging both sides to "stop the deployment immediately." "We will also firmly take necessary measures to safeguard our own interests," added Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has placed his country on high alert following North Korea's ballistic missile launch which failed because it was heading towards Russia.
Joint chiefs of staff in South Korea have confirmed that a medium-range missile, otherwise known as KN-17, launched from north-east at 49 degrees by an area near Puckchang, according to Fox News.
If these shocking claims are true, it serves a massive blow to ties between allies North Korea and Russia, with the prospect of an all-in, all-out World War 3 hanging on a knife edge as crazy Kim tries to build a missile capable of striking the US.
Moon Seong Mook, a South Korean analyst and former military official, says that the North would gain valuable knowledge even from failed launches as it continues to improve its technologies for missiles: "They could be testing a variety of things, such as the thrust of the rocket engine or the separation of stages," Moon said. "A failure is a failure, but that doesn't mean the launch was meaningless."
North Korean ballistic missile tests are banned by the United Nations because they're seen as part of the North's push for a nuclear-tipped missile that can hit the U.S. mainland.
North Korea has launched five missile tests so far in 2017. The latest launch in mid-April, though assessed as a failure, came hours after North Korea rolled out intercontinental ballistic missiles and other military hardware at a big parade to celebrate the birthday of the country's late founder, Kim Il Sung, a grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un. The festivities took place amid concerns that North Korea is possibly preparing for its sixth nuclear test or a significant rocket launch, such as its first test flight of an ICBM. Let us see -briefly- some details about each of the five tests that have already occurred this year:
Feb. 12
In February, North Korea successfully tested a land-based KN-15 missile, a new solid-fuel intermediate-range missile, which traveled 310 miles into the Sea of Japan. Gen. John Hyten, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command labeled the launch as “a major advancement” by North Korea because it was "a new solid medium range ballistic missile off a new transporter erector launcher."
March 6
In early March, North Korea launched five medium-range Scud-type missiles. Shortly after this test occurred, the U.S. delivered the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system to South Korea, a process which the U.S. started working on with its ally after the flurry of North Korean missile tests in 2016. THAAD is a missile defense shield designed to intercept short and medium range missiles.
March 21
Later in the month, North Korea tested a mobile-launched missile which exploded "within seconds of launch," according to U.S. Pacific Command. U.S. officials did not identify what type of missile was tested since it exploded so soon after launch.
April 4
On April 4, a KN-17 missile launch came just days before Chinese President Xi Jinping met with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago, during which the pair discussed how to curb North Korea's missile and nuclear programs. U.S. officials said the missile spun out of control and landed in the Sea of Japan after traveling 34 miles.
April 16
Less than two weeks later, North Korea launched another KN-17 that exploded shortly after launch.
Australia’s Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne has laughed off North Korea’s latest claims against them, telling the US deployment in Darwin, the sixth and most complex US marine air-ground task force to be deployed to the territory, is not in any way a preparation for a conflagration on the Korean Peninsula: “Obviously, we want to avoid any such military action and we want the North Koreans to behave as well as they can, like reasonable, international citizens. That means ending their missile testing and not preparing for a nuclear war with either the United States, Japan, South Korea or anyone else for that matter."
Mr. Pyne added North Korea does not yet have the capability to put a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile that would reach Australia, “And one of the reasons why the Trump administration is strengthening its attitude in North Korea is to avoid North Korea ever having that capability. For that reason, Australia supports the United States’ actions very strongly and we call on China to take the lead role as the nation with the most influence over North Korea in bringing that about.”
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 CIAMike 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.
The advanced U.S. missile defense system THAAD is believed to be capable of intercepting North Korea's intermediate-range ballistic missiles if it is deployed in South Korea, Seoul's defense chief said Friday.
North Korea claimed Thursday that it has succeeded in test-firing its mid-range missile, boasting of its capacity to hit U.S. forces in the Pacific region. "The deployment of THAAD will help South Korea's move to counter the North's missile threats,"Defense Minister Han Min-koo told reporters.
The minister said that more information is needed to check THAAD's capability to intercept the North's mid-range missiles, but generally, the system is believed to be up to the task. Seoul and Washington have been discussing the potential deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery in South Korea, where about 28,500 American troops are stationed.
The allies' move is aimed at countering the North's evolving missile threats amid concerns about the technical progress of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs. On Wednesday, the North fired off what is believed to be two Musudan mid-range missiles, marking its fifth and sixth launches since April. The Musudan missile, with an estimated range of some 3,000 to 4,000 kilometers, could theoretically reach any target in Japan and fly as far as the U.S. territory of Guam.
The North's first five attempts to test-fire the missile failed, but the sixth one flew about 400 kilometers after being launched at a higher angle Wednesday. The North's latest move raises concerns about advances made in the country's nuclear and missile capabilities. Pyongyang is seeking to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting targets on the U.S. mainland. South Korea's military said that it is too early to conclude the North's test was a total success, but experts said that if the North did not launch the missile at a higher angle, it could have traversed on a normal trajectory.
Han said that North Korea could test-fire an ICBM or a submarine-launched missile in a bid to show off its military prowess. "We do not rule out the possibility of an additional nuclear test by North Korea," he said. South Korea is speeding up the development of the indigenous Korea Air and Missile Defense system. A pre-emptive missile destruction system, the so-called Kill Chain, is also under development to detect and strike North Korea's missile and nuclear facilities. The North conducted its fourth nuke test in January and launched a long-range rocket in the following month, drawing international condemnation. The country is banned from using ballistic missile technology under relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.
North Korea has recently claimed a series of breakthroughs in its push to build a long-range nuclear missile that can strike the American mainland. If the North's claims about the sixth Musudan launch are true, it would pose a threat to the USA military base in Guam, where troops that would be sent to the Korean Peninsula if conflict broke out are based, and also possibly a nuclear threat. It explains in part North Korea's tenacious testing of the Musudan missile. (Read more)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in South Korea on Monday that the United States is continuing to seek the deployment of highly effective missile defenses there that are opposed by China.
However, the contentious issue of sending Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, batteries to bolster forces against North Korean missiles was not raised in closed-door meetings between Kerry and South Korean officials.
THAAD deployment was requested last year by Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), amid growing concerns regarding North Korean missiles targeting South Korea. Site surveys for THAAD bases were carried out last year—a sign of the relative urgency of the commander’s request.
Durante la última semana estamos observando cómo China está aumentando la presión sobre Corea del Sur para que impida el despliegue en su territorio del sistema defensivo conocido como Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).
El pasado Lunes 13, el Secretario de Relaciones Exteriores de laRepública Popular China, Liu Jianchao, se reunió con su homólogo surcoreano Lee Kyung-soo. Al termino de la entrevista, Liu dijo a los periodistas que había hablado con Lee sobre las preocupaciones de China ante la posible implantación del THAAD: "Tuvimos una discusión muy franca y libre sobre el THAAD, durante la que se puso de manifiesto la posición china al respecto. Los Estados Unidos y Corea del Sur deben tomar una decisión adecuada sobre el THAAD", dijo Liu.
Beijing y Moscú están en contra de la implementación de una batería THAAD en Corea del Sur porque temen que su sistema de radar, que puede cubrir 1.000 kilometros, pueda ser utilizado en realidad para detectar misiles procedentes de China o de Rusia. Ahora bien, la posición oficial de Seúl y de Washington es que ni siquiera han discutido el despliegue del THAAD.
A pesar de la insistencia de Washington de que no ha habido conversaciones formales con Seúl acerca del despliegue de un sistema defensivo contra misiles antibalísticos en la península coreana, ciertas declaraciones efectuadas recientemente parecen indicar lo contrario.
Más concretamente, el Almirante Samuel Locklear, comandante del USPACOM (United States Pacific Command) afirmó ayer jueves durante una audiencia del Senado, que las discusiones para el despliegue del THAAD en la Península Coreana se estaban llevando a cabo: "Hemos estado en las discusiones sobre la posible instalación de una batería THAAD adicional a la que está en Guam, que estaría ubicada en la Península Coreana".
Sus comentarios fueron interpretados en Seúl como la primera vez que un funcionario estadounidense reconoce de manera formal que hay conversaciones acerca de un asunto que viene siendo objeto de acalorados debates en los últimos meses. Esto contradice las declaraciones efectuadas por el secretario de Defensa Ashton Carter el pasado 10 de abril en Seúl, en referencia a este espinoso tema, que apuntaban a la inexistencia de discusiones oficiales acerca de la colocación del THAAD en Corea.
Teóricamente, la batería THAAD estaría destinada a defender a Corea del Sur de un posible ataque por parte de Corea del Norte. Dejando aparte que Corea del Sur ya cuenta con su propio escudo antimisiles para defenderse de Corea del Norte, el interés de Estados Unidos por instalar en Corea del Sur el THAAD no ha hecho más que reforzar las sospechas o los temores de quienes sospechan o temen que la amenaza norcoreana sea en realidad una mera cortina de humo para desviar la atención de la opinión pública al objeto de instalar sin problemas un escudo antimisiles a las puertas de China.
"Si Corea del Norte decide atacar con misiles balísticos a Corea del Sur, Japón o incluso atacar las bases norteamericanas en el Pacífico, ¿Hay alguna manera de neutralizar los misiles antes de que alcancen su objetivo?"
Y esto es lo que hemos respondido:
Si Corea del Norte decide atacar a sus vecinos lanzando misiles balísticos, existen suficientes medios de interceptar y destruir esos misiles antes de que alcancen sus objetivos. Tanto Corea del Sur como Estados Unidos y Japón cuentan con esos medios y están preparados para utilizarlos llegado el caso, pues ninguna posibilidad puede ser descartada. Naturalmente Corea del Norte lo sabe, y cabe suponer que se lo piense dos veces antes de lanzar un ataque. Sabe igualmente que no puede hacer nada para contrarrestar esos medios defensivos. Más aún, sabe que tal ataque sería considerado como una declaración de guerra y traería funestas consecuencias para Corea del Norte. Por tanto, hoy y ahora cabe descartar que se produzca un ataque por más amenazas que profieran y más movimientos de misiles que efectúen: Perro ladrador, poco mordedor. En cualquier caso, vamos a exponer brevemente qué medios existen para repeler ese tipo de ataques:
Durante la fase de ascenso: el cohete y su ojiva están acoplados y viajan en dirección al espacio. Esta fase tiene lugar dentro de la atmósfera terrestre y es cuando más fácil resulta la interceptación del misil, mediante el simple uso de misiles aire-aire. Ahora bien, esta fase tendría lugar dentro del espacio aereo de Corea del Norte, por lo que existirían pocas posibilidades de alcanzarlo con un misil aire-aire. Existe la posibilidad de interceptarlo con un laser desde un avión, pero igualmente existirían pocas probabilidades de contrarrestar la distancia. Habría que utilizar un Interceptor de Energía Cinética, preferiblemente un PAC-3.
Durante la fase intermedia: la ojiva se ha separado del cohete y se encuentran ambos elementos fuera de la atmósfera. Si se trata de un misil de alcance medio, puede perfectamente ser neutralizado con un SM-3 lanzado desde un buque enlazado al sistema AEGIS. Pero si se trata de un misil de largo alcance, la altura a la que vuelan fuera de la atmósfera es mayor y habría que utilizar interceptores de mayor alcance, lanzados desde tierra (Sistema GMD). Tanto Estados Unidos como Corea del Sur y Japón cuentan con buques enlazados al sistema AEGIS y dotados de suficientes misiles SM-3, por lo que un ataque de Corea del Norte estaría abocado a fracasar. Y en el caso de que utilizasen misiles de largo alcance, Estados Unidos cuenta con suficientes interceptores para neutralizar la amenaza.
Durante la fase terminal: tenemos una ojiva que viaja dentro de la atmósfera hacia su objetivo. Es durante esta fase cuando mas dificultad existe para neutralizar la amenaza, y para ello se ha creado el sistema denominado Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), que cuenta con misiles capaces de impactar y destruir la ojiva durante su descenso.
Si al final no consiguiese neutralizarse la amenaza: Detonar una ojiva nuclear no es tarea fácil, pues requiere contar con sistemas muy complejos y precisos que deben funcionar perfectamente. Y a día de hoy, no existe certeza de que los norcoreanos hayan resuelto esa dificultad.
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