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China-Japan-Koreas
Gates Confident Alaska BDM Could Stop Nork Rocket
2009-06-03
FORT GREELY, Alaska – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Monday he had confidence the Pentagon's Alaska-based missile defense system could knock down an incoming North Korean rocket attack if Pyongyang fired on the U.S. mainland.

North Korea is believed by U.S. defense officials to be preparing one of its long-range ballistic missiles, known as the Taepodong-2, possibly for another test launch. In April, Pyongyang shot off a Taepodong-2 that flew over Japan before crashing into the Pacific.

Speaking after touring a silo holding one of the U.S. military's 16 interceptors here at a base northeast of Anchorage, Mr. Gates said his visit had taken on "an additional importance given the developments in North Korea," even though the trip had been planned well before Pyongyang's May 25 nuclear test.

The 16 interceptor missiles, and 4 similar rockets at Vandenberg Air Force Base in central California, are one of the U.S.'s primary defenses against a North Korean missile attack. The U.S. Navy also has a fleet of cruisers and destroyers that can be deployed to the North Korean coast capable of a missile shoot-down.

Critics of the Alaska-based program have questioned whether Pyongyang's missiles can reach the U.S. homeland, ...
... today, they mean ...
... particularly after both tests it has conducted of its long-range missiles over the last three years failed before the rockets reached their critical third stage. The missile in the first test in 2006 blew up almost immediately after takeoff.
Because the Norks couldn't possibly learn from their mistakes and build a better missile. That's never happened in the history of the world ...
Skeptics have also argued that the Pentagon's ground-based interceptors, which have a historically mixed record of striking dummy missiles during testing, would not be able to hit incoming intercontinental missiles.
So let's have fewer of them, not more ...
But Mr. Gates said he believed the ground-based interceptors were growing in capability "every day." "If there were a launch from a rogue state such as North Korea, I have good confidence we would be able to deal with it," Mr. Gates said.
And we wouldn't fire just one. And if we had some warning, the Navy would be throwing SM-3s at the Nork missile.
Despite its backing for the missile defense system, the Obama administration has proposed scaling back the number of interceptors to be placed in Alaska from 40 to 26, arguing the lower number would be sufficient to match near-term North Korean missile capabilities.

But Mr. Gates said that if North Korea or other rogue states prove able to strengthen their missile and nuclear capabilities at a faster rate, the defense budget does not preclude future requests for a bulked-up program in Alaska.
As, for example, when President Palin orders it ...
The administration's decision to cut the missile defense program has come under attack from supporters on Capitol Hill, but Mr. Gates noted that congressional critics of the system have largely grown quiet following North Korea's recent spate of saber-rattling.
Can't imagine why. I thought those critics were telling us that missile defense would never work.
Asked of his impression of the interceptors, Mr. Gates recalled that he had worked on an intercontinental ballistic missile base as a young Air Force officer in the 1960s. "A missile looks like a missile," he joked. "Just make sure the pointy end is up."
Posted by:Steve White

#4  Doesn't WW2, Japanese attacks on Dutch Harbor, Attu, Kiska, the AlCan Highway ring a bell? The Norks have been working steadily on increasing the range of their missiles.

People do not study geography or history any more. Geeze!
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2009-06-03 10:15  

#3  Since when is Alaska not part of the US homeland?

Since Sarah Palin.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2009-06-03 08:15  

#2  Critics of the Alaska-based program have questioned whether Pyongyang's missiles can reach the U.S. homeland
4000 km is enough range to hit the Aleutians (and Eareckson AFB). Since when is Alaska not part of the US homeland?
Posted by: Spot   2009-06-03 08:14  

#1  hit it on the damn train inside NKOR!
Posted by: 3dc   2009-06-03 00:49  

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