US Focus Turning To Missile Defence System: Report

Amid a potential threats from North Korea, the US defence department Pentagon is focusing on bolstering the country's missile defence system, according to a report by the online news magazine The Hill published on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Feb, 2018 ) :Amid a potential threats from North Korea, the US defence department Pentagon is focusing on bolstering the country's missile defence system, according to a report by the online news magazine The Hill published on Tuesday.

In the past two months, Pentagon has released two major reviews, the National Defense Strategy and the Nuclear Posture Review, and according to the report, another major report on Ballistic Missile Defence Review is expected in coming weeks.

While, there has been a reduction in two-way rhetoric between the United States and North Korea, Pyongyang remains one of the major threats and will possibly feature high in efforts to bolster the country's defence.

Two top generals last week stated that while they were confident about the ability of the US missile defences to guard against North Korea, the US needs to bolster the defense systems to protect the country from threats in future.

The Trump administration early this month proposed $686 billion defence budget for the Pentagon, the largest in almost eight years, that focusses on the country's nuclear defences against threats from China and Russia, but, the White House also cited North Korea in particular.

"The budget increases the capability and capacity of the United States to detect, defeat and defend against any North Korean use of ballistic missiles against the United States, its deployed forces, allies and partners," according to the budget proposal.

The budget proposal for the fiscal year 2019 includes request for funds "in accordance with direction from the 2018 Missile Defence Review". It sought $12.9 billion for missile defense system that includes $9.9 billion for the Missile Defence Agency, in an apparent effort to protect the country against North Korea.

The budget sought for strengthening the defense system include $1.7 billion to buy 43 Aegis interceptors, four Ground-based Midcourse Defence (GMD) interceptors and 10 silos for $2.1 billion, 82 Terminal High Altitude Area Defence interceptors for $1.1 billion and 240 Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors for $1.1 billion.

The increased defence budget would also allow developing an additional missile field in Alaska On Sunday, the Missile Defence Agency and the Israel Missile Defence Organization successfully completed a flight test of the Arrow 3 weapon system that is designed to defend against ballistic missiles outside of the atmosphere, a report from the Pentagon said.

The Arrow 3 weapons system is a major part of Israel's multi-layered defence array. This array is based on four layers; Iron Dome and David's Sling, and the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 systems. Arrow 3 interceptors were delivered to the Israeli air force in January 2017 for operational use.