The United States has deployed a number of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THHAD) missile systems to reportedly shoot down North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in case of a war. But just how the advanced interception system will fare against the latest missile in the North’s arsenal?
In late November, Pyongyang successfully test-launched what American military experts called a Hwasong-15 ICBM, the largest North Korean missile tested to date with a presumably long-enough range to deliver nuclear warheads deep into the US mainland.
David Schmerler, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS), told CNN that Pyongyang “wanted (to be able) to hit all of the US and they wanted something big to hit it with,” and the new Hwasong-15 “seems on the surface level to be that missile.”
Days after the test, US congressmen Mike Rogers and Adam Smith both suggested that the Pentagon…