Why don't they just shoot those North Korean missiles down? Best read this... No, We Cannot Shoot Down North Korea’s Missiles - http://www.defenseone.com/?oref=d-interstitial-logo BY JOE CIRINCIONE SEPTEMBER 17, 2017 It's time national leaders speak realistically about missile defense. ... The number one reason we don’t shoot down North Korea’s missiles is that we cannot. ... Officials like to reassure their publics about our defense to these missiles. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told his nation after last week’s test, “We didn’t intercept it because no damage to Japanese territory was expected.” ... That is half true. The missile did not pose a serious threat. It flew over the Japanese island of Hokkaido, landing 3700 km (2300 miles) from its launch point near North Korea’s capital of Pyongyang. The key word here is “over.” Like way over. Like 770 kilometers (475 miles) over Japan at the apogee of its flight path. Neither Japan nor the United States could have intercepted the missile. None of the theater ballistic missile defense weapons in existence can reach that high. It is hundreds of kilometers too high for the Aegis interceptors deployed on Navy ships off Japan. Even higher for the THAAD systems in South Korea and Guam. Way too high for the Patriot systems in Japan, which engage largely within the atmosphere. All of these are basically designed to hit a missile in the post-mid-course or terminal phase, when it is on its way down, coming more or less straight at the defending system. Patriot is meant to protect relatively small areas such as ports or air bases; THAAD defends a larger area; the advanced Aegis system theoretically could defend thousands of square kilometers. But could we intercept before the missile climbed that high? There is almost no chance of hitting a North Korean missile on its way up unless an Aegis ship was deployed very close to the launch point, perhaps in North Korean waters. Even then, it would have to chase the missile, a race it is unlikely to win. In the only one or two minutes of warning time any system would have, the probability of a successful engagement drops close to zero. .... Joe Cirincione is president of Ploughshares Fund and the author of Nuclear Nightmares: Securing the World Before It Is Too Late. FULL BIO
Granny says the Donald needs to smack Rocket Boy on his fat head... US Hopes New, Tougher Sanctions Will Stop N. Korea Weapons Development September 21, 2017 — The United States on Thursday further clamped down on North Korea's ties to the outside world, moving to sever any links between Pyongyang and banks outside the reclusive state. See also: North Korea Threatens Nuclear Test in Pacific September 22, 2017 — North Korea indicated it may soon test a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean after the country’s leader Kim Jong Un warned he would match U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatening words and new sanctions with equally provocative action.
No American ABM system deployed is a boost phase system interceptor. So naturally we can't shoot them during ascent. If we wanted to intercept missiles in the ascent stage we need ABMs in satellites shooting down at missiles rising.
