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06-20-06, 11:09 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has activated its ground-based interceptor missile-defense system amid concerns over an expected North Korean missile launch, a U.S. defense official said on Tuesday.
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The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a Washington Times report that the
Pentagon has switched the multibillion-dollar system from test mode to operational, after being in the developmental stage for years.
"It's good to be ready," the official said.
Asked whether the United States would try to shoot down a North Korean missile, Pentagon press secretary Eric Ruff declined to answer directly.
"We have a limited missile defense system," Ruff said. "We don't discuss the alert status or the specific capabilities."
U.S. Northern Command spokesman Michael Kucharek declined to comment on the alert status of the ground-based interceptors, but said, "As the command tasked with homeland defense, U.S. Northern Command is prepared to do what is necessary to defend this nation," on land, sea, air and in space.
The United States has built up a complex of interceptor missiles, advanced radar stations and data relays designed to detect and shoot down an enemy missile, but tests of the system have had mixed results.
The system is based on the concept of using one missile to shoot down another before it can reach its target.
The United States has installed nine interceptor missiles in silos at Fort Greely in Alaska and two at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. In addition,
U.S. Navy vessels with long-range tracking and surveillance capability ply the Sea of Japan.
"There's real caution in how to characterize it so as to not be provocative in our own approach," the defense official said of the move to activate the U.S. system.
U.S. officials say evidence such as satellite pictures suggests
North Korea may have finished fueling a Taepodong-2 missile, which some experts said could reach as far as Alaska. The Pentagon and State Department have said a North Korean missile launch would be seen as provocative.
Creation of a missile defense system has been a goal of many U.S. conservatives dating back to a space-based plan envisioned two decades ago under President
Ronald Reagan.
In eight intercept tests of the U.S. ground-based missile defense system, the interceptor has hit a mock incoming warhead five times. Such testing was suspended after interceptors failed to leave their silos during tests in December 2004 and February 2005 -- failures blamed on quality-control issues.
ADVERTISEMENT
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a Washington Times report that the
Pentagon has switched the multibillion-dollar system from test mode to operational, after being in the developmental stage for years.
"It's good to be ready," the official said.
Asked whether the United States would try to shoot down a North Korean missile, Pentagon press secretary Eric Ruff declined to answer directly.
"We have a limited missile defense system," Ruff said. "We don't discuss the alert status or the specific capabilities."
U.S. Northern Command spokesman Michael Kucharek declined to comment on the alert status of the ground-based interceptors, but said, "As the command tasked with homeland defense, U.S. Northern Command is prepared to do what is necessary to defend this nation," on land, sea, air and in space.
The United States has built up a complex of interceptor missiles, advanced radar stations and data relays designed to detect and shoot down an enemy missile, but tests of the system have had mixed results.
The system is based on the concept of using one missile to shoot down another before it can reach its target.
The United States has installed nine interceptor missiles in silos at Fort Greely in Alaska and two at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. In addition,
U.S. Navy vessels with long-range tracking and surveillance capability ply the Sea of Japan.
"There's real caution in how to characterize it so as to not be provocative in our own approach," the defense official said of the move to activate the U.S. system.
U.S. officials say evidence such as satellite pictures suggests
North Korea may have finished fueling a Taepodong-2 missile, which some experts said could reach as far as Alaska. The Pentagon and State Department have said a North Korean missile launch would be seen as provocative.
Creation of a missile defense system has been a goal of many U.S. conservatives dating back to a space-based plan envisioned two decades ago under President
Ronald Reagan.
In eight intercept tests of the U.S. ground-based missile defense system, the interceptor has hit a mock incoming warhead five times. Such testing was suspended after interceptors failed to leave their silos during tests in December 2004 and February 2005 -- failures blamed on quality-control issues.