North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has already conducted 15 missile tests this year, the latest on Friday, without a single attempt by the United States to shoot down one of the strongman’s rockets – and some experts say that’s because the American military isn’t capable of doing so.
When North Korea launched its KN-17 intermediate-range ballistic missile Friday, the rocket flew 480 miles over the Japanese island of Hokkaido, making it unreachable by Japanese or U.S. interceptors, a Defense One report stated. U.S. missile defense – the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system – can’t reach a missile launched at that height without preparation.
“U.S. missile defense against North Korea are not postured to shoot down North Korean missile tests,” Kingston Reif, director of Disarmament and Threat Reduction policy at the Arms Control Association, told Fox News on Monday. “Shooting down North Korean missiles that fall within the defended areas of these systems, such as the Japanese and U.S. homelands, would be challenging enough.” – READ MORE
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