US missile defense said ready for N.Korea threat

WASHINGTON, Oct 10(Reuters) A US Army missile defense system has proven it can hit enemy ballistic missiles and is now in place in Hawaii where it could be used to respond to any threats from North Korea, a top program official said today after a reported nuclear test by Pyongyang.

The Missile Defense Agency, which oversees the program, also expects to sign early next year a contract with Lockheed Martin Corp. for additional units of the developmental system, known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), Col. Charles Driessnack said at the annual meeting of the Association of the US Army.

Asked if the system could be declared operational to respond to the current crisis over the North Korean test, he said the system had proven it could intercept enemy missiles and was now positioned ''where it could do an operation.'' THAAD is designed to destroy enemy ballistic missiles during the final phase of flight. It is part of the Bush administration's complex missile defense system and is slated to become operational only in 2009.

Driessnack compared the system's state of readiness to that of another part of the missile defense system, which was activated briefly in July to guard against a Taepodong 2 missile test-fired by North Korea.

Like that system, THAAD would continue testing while being on alert for use as needed, he said. Testing would continue eve after expected initial deployment of the system in 2009.

The Missile Defense Agency has moved THAAD equipment from the White Sands Missile range in New Mexico to the vast Pacific Missile Range Facility on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, with the last airplane carrying equipment arriving there on October 4, Driessnack said.

MORE TESTS

The move helped test and prove the agency's ability to deploy the system around the world, he added.

Testing at the larger Pacific range, which stretches as far as the distance from Texas to Canada, will allow for more robust tests against missiles launched from ships and eliminates the need for a corkscrew maneuver required at White hands due to space limitations.

''This will allow us to really wring out the system,'' Driessnack said. He said 12 remaining flight tests would be designed to test its ability to shoot short-range and longer-range ballistic missiles.

One final test will be conducted in New Mexico in December before testing begins in Hawaii in January, he said. The system will be linked with the Aegis and Patriot weapons systems.

Driessnack said he expected to sign a contract with Lockheed in January or February 2007 for two THAAD fire units, but gave no details on the potential value of the contract.

''That has not been negotiated,'' said Driessnack, who is project manager for THAAD program.

Driessnack said THAAD could have shot down a target missile that malfunctioned after launch last month and was destroyed by range safety officers, but could not engage because the resulting debris could have drifted off the test range.

He said the program had been able to get important data from the test, despite the malfunction with the target missile, which took a sharp right turn and headed out of the test range shortly after being fired.

Three successful THAAD tests had been carried out before last month.

REUTERS

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