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[Barzul]

US military considers shooting down North Korea missile tests

The US military is considering shooting down North Korean missile tests as a show of strength to Pyongyang, two sources briefed on the planning have told the Guardian.

Amid heightened tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs, the Pentagon is looking for ways short of war to pressure the country into denuclearization, particularly if Pyongyang goes forward with a sixth nuclear test.

Robert Kelly, an associate professor at South Korea’s Pusan National University, said: “North Korea is banned from testing missiles by the UN, so in that sense we should be shooting all of them down. But instead, the world has turned a blind eye. I don’t think it would be a bad idea to shoot down a test missile, as an attack on North Korea itself would be too provocative.”

 

[BearPawB]

That would require a successful test launch

 

[D4Danger]

aim low

 

[Talladega Knight]

aim low

lol

 

[KingV]

Lot of risk in that. Those systems are not 100% accurate.

 

[HawksWinStanley]

 

[clockworkinyou]

So the Great Leader would just spin it and say that the Great NK military intercepted and destroyed the invading horde's missiles?

Kim Jong-Un is playing some 7-D baccarat or some shit.

 

[inner-G]

Would be a good way to test/show of THAAD if it works, I guess

 

[Impeccable]

"Oops" We missed your missile. Got 'em.

 

[AuthenticM]

ahahahaha XD

 

[Barzul]

Lot of risk in that. Those systems are not 100% accurate.

One would think given the amount of money we spend on our military that we'd have the best available...I know Israel has the defense system they use but not sure if that is movable.

 

[Sylverstone14]

aim low

 

[JZA]

Why is this a headline? I'm sure this among many other options were also "considered", but only this one gets a headline.

 

[Xando]

Trump really wants to provoke NK into military retaliation

CNN already preparing the "very presidential segment" for when seoul and pyongyang burn.

One would think given the amount of money we spend on our military that we'd have the best available...I know Israel has the defense system they use but not sure if that is movable.

Success rate for missile interceptions ranges from 50 to 90% depending on who you ask. Not sure we want to take the risk.

 

[guek]

With a steadier hand at the wheel than Trump's, I might not oppose this. The danger is in provoking an incident but NK provocation in this case warrants a response.

That would require a successful test launch

They've had em before.

 

[Earthbound64]

So the Great Leader would just spin it and say that the Great NK military intercepted and destroyed the invading horde's missiles?

Sounds likely.

 

[HStallion]

Isn't it still very hard to actually shoot these types of missiles down?

 

[Guevara]

High risk, low reward.

If we miss, then the whole world realizes our missile defense shields are pretty weak.

 

[ghostofsparta]

These guys really want to go to war huh. Maybe that's their real plan to revive middle America?

 

[kingofthedead45]

These guys really want to go to war huh. Maybe that's their real plan to revive middle America?

War, war never changes.

 

[Pandora012]

Isn't it still very hard to actually shoot these types of missiles down?

Especially when they go down themselves after a few seconds.

 

[Akuun]

I thought the whole missile defense thing was pretty iffy to begin with?

If NK launches something and the US misses, it'll be even more embarrassing than NK failing to launch again.

And with Trump at the wheel, he could miss really badly and hit something he shouldn't. Or NK might overreact and mistake the intercept missile for a ballistic missile, and attempt something really stupid.

 

[Guevara]

I thought the whole missile defense thing was pretty iffy to begin with?

If NK launches something and the US misses, it'll be even more embarrassing than NK failing to launch again.

And with Trump at the wheel, he could miss really badly and hit something he shouldn't. Or NK might overreact and mistake the intercept missile for a ballistic missile, and attempt something really stupid.

Oh great, now I'm afraid of this scenario.

 

[Joni]

Oops. We accidentally nuked North Korea. Our bad. We wanted to hit that missile. Yes, with a nuke. What else? Yes, we had to launch 12 when we saw the first one missed.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Anything to rise those pitiful approval numbers eh Trump?

 

[norm9]

This means Trump remembers missile command on the atari.

 

[guek]

I thought the whole missile defense thing was pretty iffy to begin with?

If NK launches something and the US misses, it'll be even more embarrassing than NK failing to launch again.

And with Trump at the wheel, he could miss really badly and hit something he shouldn't. Or NK might overreact and mistake the intercept missile for a ballistic missile, and attempt something really stupid.

The problem AFAIK is missile defense systems are largely untested in the field. THAAD supposedly has a really high success rate and it's in SK already but there are some that have doubts that it's as effective as advertised.

 

[shnurgleton]

can we please stop feeding this troll

 

[chromatic9]

Don't fancy them hitting a moving target and they have to find North Korea. Some science student class is about to get rekt.

 

[Dr.Acula]

Is it really defense when you shoot your anti-missile-missiles into another country?

- missile is flying in international waters

oic

 

[Ogodei]

THAAD hits missiles on the way down, no? Seems like it would be a fruitless gesture unless it wasn't a test. Plus, you'd have to know the general vicinity of where they were shooting in advance, which is possible given the US Intel.

 

[Geist-]

 

[guek]

THAAD hits missiles on the way down, no? Seems like it would be a fruitless gesture unless it wasn't a test. Plus, you'd have to know the general vicinity of where they were shooting in advance, which is possible given the US Intel.

I don't think so? I'm not well versed in this stuff though. This graphic from lockheed martin doesn't help much...

 

[jakonovski]

You come at the Un, you better not miss.

 

[chromatic9]

 

[Xando]

I don't think so? I'm not well versed in this stuff though. This graphic from lockheed martin doesn't help much...

THAAD is designed to intercept missiles outside the atmosphere or in the upper part of atmosphere

 

[AcademicSaucer]

Aren't their test sites really close to Russia?

 

[eizarus]

Can't they just do it Obama style and keep sabotaging them. Knocking them out of the sky is pretty risky

 

[Kinyou]

THAAD hits missiles on the way down, no? Seems like it would be a fruitless gesture unless it wasn't a test. Plus, you'd have to know the general vicinity of where they were shooting in advance, which is possible given the US Intel.

Wouldn't this be an ibcm test? Afaik do they try to hit those in their sub-orbital phase

 

[Xando]

Aren't their test sites really close to Russia?

Not sure. THAAD was primarily designed to intercept scuds and other short to midrange missiles.
Missile range is at about 150km height and 200km range which is not that good for ICBMs(traveling around 5-10km/s) as it leaves a relatively short time window to deploy the missile.

 

[Chittagong]

- missile is flying in international waters
- missile is launched against an UN resolution

Surely there can't be anything controversial in shooting it down?

 

[Log4Girlz]

aim low

Aim low, sweet patriot

 

[Duxxy3]

So the Great Leader would just spin it and say that the Great NK military intercepted and destroyed the invading horde's missiles?

Kim Jong-Un is playing some 7-D baccarat or some shit.

Shit, that's brilliant.

 

[kahboomkin]

This would be a really risky move. The THAAD hasn't been tested on anything larger than a MRBM and NK's BM-25s are supposedly IRBMs. This would be a bad time to learn the THAAD can't shoot down intermediate range missiles.
On the other hand if they opted to use an alternative like an Aegis destroyer it might raise questions about how much faith the US has in the THAAD's abilities.

 

[diehard]

This would be a really risky move. The THAAD hasn't been tested on anything larger than a MRBM and NK's BM-25s are supposedly IRBMs. This would be a bad time to learn the THAAD can't shoot down intermediate range missiles.
On the other hand if they opted to use an alternative like an Aegis destroyer it might raise questions about how much faith the US has in the THAAD's abilities.

They have done tests that combine both systems, they could do that here. Just as long as the missile is destroyed it's a success.

 

[guek]

THAAD is designed to intercept missiles outside the atmosphere or in the upper part of atmosphere

What's the point of putting THAAD in SK if it can't be used against NK missiles

 

[ZOONAMI]

If they have 90%+ confidence in the tech actually working I'm cool with that shit. Huge backfire if you cant successfully intercept though.

 

[sugarhigh4242]

High risk, low reward.

If we miss, then the whole world realizes our missile defense shields are pretty weak.

What's the reward if the missile defense works?

 

[Xando]

What's the point of putting THAAD in SK if it can't be used against NK missiles

THAAD actually makes sense to use in SK due to the relatively low area you'd have to cover and NK using short/mid range missiles. Covering the US against ICBMs is where it's going to lose effectiveness.

 

[diehard]

What's the reward if the missile defense works?

Even more of a deterrent for North Korea to ever launch a first strike, or even possibly continue work on their ballistic systems (this one is a stretch).