U.S. Defense Against North Korea Missiles Improved, Tester Finds
- Pentagon testing office says ‘small number’ could be stopped
- Report more optimistic than past assessments of interceptors
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The ground-based system of interceptors that the U.S. would use to defend the mainland and Hawaii against a threatened North Korean attack is improving after past setbacks, the Pentagon’s testing office said in a new report.
The $36 billion system “demonstrated the capability to defend the U.S. homeland from a small number” of intermediate range or intercontinental ballistic missiles launched “with simple countermeasures,” Robert Behler, the Defense Department’s new director of operational testing, said in his office’s annual report that was submitted Tuesday to top Pentagon officials.