Publicly, US President Barack Obama and senior officials in his administration berated North Korean leader Kim Jong-il last week for firing 11 ballistic missiles eastward into the Sea of Japan, four short-range missiles on July 2 and seven medium range missiles on July 4. It was the biggest North Korean missile barrage seen so far.
Secretly, US officials informed on missile defenses were pleased for two reasons. First, the elaborate US missile defense in place in Japan, Alaska, California, Hawaii, aboard Navy ships and in satellites was tested and worked well. In particular, the fusion of data from sensors based on land, at sea and in space produced swift and clear images of what the missiles were doing.
Second, US intelligence gathered information about the missiles that otherwise could not have been gained. An official in Washington said: “We learned an incredible amount about where exactly North Korea is in their long-range missile development program.”
Because North Korea has only aging radar, the official doubted that Pyongyang “learned anything close to what we learned about their tests.”
The officials said North Korea’s missiles were fired from mobile launchers, but the US had been able to track them with satellites and reconnaissance aircraft. U-2 surveillance planes flying outside of North Korean airspace, for instance, transmitted digital photographs to be fed into the fused data.
The North Koreans have become more skilled at disguising launch sites with shields like medieval armor through which radar cannot see. The US, however, has found undisclosed ways of piercing that camouflage. US sensors were able to pick up North Korean missiles when they had flight times of only two to 11 seconds, indicating either a failed launch or a target close to launch.
The missiles were sighted by US radar in northwestern Japan near the remote village of Shariki, then picked up by radar on Shemya in the Aleutian chain of Alaska and another encased in what looks like a giant golf ball aboard a seagoing base in the mid-Pacific. A satellite and an Aegis destroyer on patrol in the Pacific also tracked the missiles.
Missile data was transmitted to a US command center at Yokota Air Base west of Tokyo, where much was shared with Japan’s Self-Defense Forces. The data went to operations centers in Hawaii, Northern Command in Colorado, Strategic Command in Nebraska, the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon and to the situation room in the White House.
Keeping track of the missiles was made a bit easier when the North Koreans staggered the launches. Joseph Bermudez, a specialist on North Korean military affairs, wrote in Jane’s Intelligence Review that on July 2 the launches of the missiles were 40 minutes to nearly two hours apart. They landed in the sea within 100km offshore.
On July 4, the seven missiles were launched mostly about two hours apart. The trajectories were generally northeast into the Sea of Japan after flights of 435km to 480km. All suggested that the North Koreans had improved the accuracy of their missiles.
The only aspect of missile defense not tested was, obviously, taking a shot at a North Korean missile. The system was alerted to shoot if the sensors had shown a long-range missile headed to a target in Japan or the US, including Alaska and Hawaii.
Had Obama given the order to shoot, computers in a fire control suite in Alaska would have selected interceptors in Alaska, California or aboard an Aegis ship at sea to shoot at the missiles during their flights. As a last resort, an anti-missile missile would have been fired from Hawaii at the incoming warhead hurtling down from space.
Richard Halloran is a freelance writer based in Hawaii.
As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) reach the point of confidence that they can start and win a war to destroy the democratic culture on Taiwan, any future decision to do so may likely be directly affected by the CCP’s ability to promote wars on the Korean Peninsula, in Europe, or, as most recently, on the Indian subcontinent. It stands to reason that the Trump Administration’s success early on May 10 to convince India and Pakistan to deescalate their four-day conventional military conflict, assessed to be close to a nuclear weapons exchange, also served to
After India’s punitive precision strikes targeting what New Delhi called nine terrorist sites inside Pakistan, reactions poured in from governments around the world. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) issued a statement on May 10, opposing terrorism and expressing concern about the growing tensions between India and Pakistan. The statement noticeably expressed support for the Indian government’s right to maintain its national security and act against terrorists. The ministry said that it “works closely with democratic partners worldwide in staunch opposition to international terrorism” and expressed “firm support for all legitimate and necessary actions taken by the government of India
The recent aerial clash between Pakistan and India offers a glimpse of how China is narrowing the gap in military airpower with the US. It is a warning not just for Washington, but for Taipei, too. Claims from both sides remain contested, but a broader picture is emerging among experts who track China’s air force and fighter jet development: Beijing’s defense systems are growing increasingly credible. Pakistan said its deployment of Chinese-manufactured J-10C fighters downed multiple Indian aircraft, although New Delhi denies this. There are caveats: Even if Islamabad’s claims are accurate, Beijing’s equipment does not offer a direct comparison
To recalibrate its Cold War alliances, the US adopted its “one China policy,” a diplomatic compromise meant to engage with China and end the Vietnam War, but which left Taiwan in a state of permanent limbo. Half a century later, the costs of that policy are mounting. Taiwan remains a democratic, technologically advanced nation of 23 million people, yet it is denied membership in international organizations and stripped of diplomatic recognition. Meanwhile, the PRC has weaponized the “one China” narrative to claim sovereignty over Taiwan, label the Taiwan Strait as its “internal waters” and threaten international shipping routes that carry more