US, Hawaii lacking tech to down NKorean missile: expert
Updated
A missile defence expert doesn't believe the US ground- and sea-based defence assets can protect Hawaii against North Korean missiles. News overnight says that North Korea has fired at least three short-range missile off its east coast into the sea of Japan. It's vowing to step up its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of a new UN security Council resolution.
Missile-defence expert Taylor Dinerman made the comments in response to North Korea's threat to launch a long-range missile on July 4th towards the Pacific.
Presenter: Geraldine Coutts
Speaker: Taylor Dinerman, New York-based missile-defence expert
- Listen:
- Windows Media
DINERMAN: Theoretically, we could use one of the ground based interceptors based on the North Korean missile if it is fired upon on July 4th and we haven't seen any sign that they're getting ready for that yet. But the SM3 and the Thaad, the Theatre High Altitude Area Defence systems that were deployed to Hawaii are relatively short range systems that have not been given the upgrades needed to intercept a missile of that range, a six-thousand kilometre range. The problem is that for many years these systems were regarded as being intermediate range or medium range intercept systems and that the Pentagon resisted asking for the money to do these upgrades in spite of some pressure from outside groups and from some of the people, retired admiral J.D. Williams for example, who was the originator of the sea-based missile defence program, he's been pushing for this upgrade for a long time. But the missile defence agency and the United States navy have resisted spending the money. It has more to do with the laws of the sea, that people are still within the military still adhere to the old mutually assured destruction philosophy or what sometimes is called the balance of terror philosophy. But now if more and more countries are getting ballistic missiles and the world is becoming much less simple place than it was back in the Cold War days when we just had the superpowers facing off against each other. I believe that it's time to rethink this, but at the moment the idea of deploying these SM3s right now is more atmospherics than anything else.
COUTTS: Well sticking with this proposed launch of a missile by North Korea towards Hawaii, is there a question of accuracy in range then given what you've just said and we know I think from past experiences that they've got stage one, stage two down ok, but stage three hasn't quite worked for the North Koreans so should we worry about accuracy?
DINERMAN: Yes, very much so and we should be worried about range and accuracy. I think the North Koreans have come no where near to mastering the technology for an intermediate range of ballistic missile. The last launch back in April the third stage failed, the first two stages seemed to have worked. But their reliability has certainly not been proven. The fact that every time they prepare to launch one of these long range missiles they fire a lot of short range stuff as well just as kind of camouflage almost for the long range missile launch indicates that they don't have much trust in the abilities of their systems, though they have been improving over the years. I mean it's a long process to develop these systems, and for an impoverished country and an isolated country like North Korea it's very difficult for them to do it, but they have not stopped working on this for decades and we can expect that they're going to continue trying to improve their systems and cooperating with people like Iran and others to try and improve their systems. So I think right now as far as accuracy goes I think they probably even if they do aim at the general area of Hawaii, I think the fish are in much more danger than anyone on the islands are.
