44 items, Page 4 of 5
March 7, 2017
On March 6, the United States deployed the first elements of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea, per a statement by the United States military. Two THAAD launch vehicles arrived to the U.S. military’s Osan Air Base late in the evening of the same day North Korea tested four ballistic missiles. The head of...
March 2, 2017
In the series finale of the television show Breaking Bad, chemistry teacher-turned meth kingpin Walter White breaks into the home of an ex-business partner, who out of fear arms himself with a butter knife. “If we’re gonna go that way,” White says dryly, “you’ll need a bigger knife.” The man knows he cannot compete, and...
February 27, 2017
On February 27, the board of South Korea’s Lotte Group approved a land swap with the South Korean government that will allow for the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system. According to a South Korean military official, the government and the Lotte Group could sign an agreement as early as Tuesday, meaning that the...
February 22, 2017
On February 21, ADM Harry Harris, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command, called for greater integration of joint forces so that Army platforms can target threats identified by Navy radars and vice versa. Harris, talking about the future of PACOM, said that he’d “like to see the Army’s land forces conduct exercises to sink a...
January 31, 2017
On January 30, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korea’s acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn exchanged a phone call in which they reaffirmed their countries’ bilateral alliance and the future deployment of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system to South Korea. According to the White House, “Trump reiterated our ironclad commitment to defend the ROK,...
January 17, 2017
The deployment of the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea may be delayed due to internal corporate concerns of the Lotte Group, which currently owns the golf course on which the THAAD unit is proposed to be stationed. Strong Chinese opposition to the THAAD deployment may be motivating the Lotte Group to reconsider its decision. In November,...
January 13, 2017
On January 9, 2017, LTG (ret.) Michael Flynn, the soon-to-be national security advisor to President-Elect Donald Trump, met with his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan-jin to reaffirm their countries’ joint decision to deploy a THAAD missile defense system to the South Korean peninsula. The decision to deploy THAAD comes as a response to the growing...
December 14, 2016
On December 12, 2016, the Senate confirmed Major General James Dickinson, previously the chief of staff of U.S. Strategic Command, as the new commanding general of the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command and the Army Forces Strategic Command. Major General Dickinson will also be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General. Including having served...
November 8, 2016
According to the chief of United States Forces in Korea, GEN Vincent Brooks, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system will be deployed to South Korea sometime in the next eight to ten months. Brooks’ remarks also suggested that the South Korean battery would be larger than the one currently deployed in Guam....
October 25, 2016
Last week, North Korea conducted what was likely to be the seventh and eight attempted launches of the Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile. United States Strategic Command detected both launches and assessed both tests to be failures, making for seven such failures of the missile this year. The only successful test of the Musudan, which happened on June 22,...