Tag Archives: ICBM

North Korea may get plutonium from restarted reactor in weeks, U.S. says

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korea, which conducted its fourth nuclear test last month and launched a long-range rocket on Saturday, could begin to recover plutonium from a restarted nuclear reactor within weeks, the director of U.S. National Intelligence said on Tuesday.

James Clapper said that in 2013, following its third nuclear test, North Korea announced its intention to “refurbish and restart” facilities at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, to include the uranium enrichment facility and its graphite-moderated plutonium production reactor shut down in 2007.

“We assess that North Korea has followed through on its announcement by expanding its Yongbyon enrichment facility and restarting the plutonium production reactor,” Clapper said in prepared testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“We further assess that North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor’s spent fuel within a matter of weeks to months,” he said in his annual Worldwide Threat Assessment.

North Korea has used its graphite-moderated reactor at Yongbyon as a source of plutonium for its atomic bombs. It tested a fourth nuclear device on Jan. 6.

North Korea said in September that Yongbyon was operating and that it was working to improve the “quality and quantity” of weapons which it could use against the United States at “any time.”

Clapper said North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs would “continue to pose a serious threat to U.S. interests and to the security environment in East Asia in 2016.”

He said North Korea had expanded the size and sophistication of its ballistic missile forces and was also “committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a direct threat to the United States.”

Clapper said Pyongyang had publicly displayed a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile, or ICBM, on multiple occasions, and the U.S. assessment was that it had taken initial steps toward fielding the system, although it had not been flight-tested.

North Korea said that it launched a satellite into space on Saturday with a long-range rocket. The United States and its allies see the launch as cover for Pyongyang’s development of ballistic missile technology that could be used to deliver a nuclear weapon.

The launch was strongly condemned by the United States, its allies and the United Nations Security Council.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

North Korea rocket launch may spur U.S. missile defense buildup in Asia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – North Korea’s latest rocket launch might kick off a buildup of U.S. missile defense systems in Asia, U.S. officials and missile defense experts said, something that could further strain U.S.-China ties and also hurt relations between Beijing and Seoul.

North Korea says it put a satellite into orbit on Sunday, but the United States and its allies see the launch as cover for Pyongyang’s development of ballistic missile technology that could be used to deliver a nuclear weapon.

Washington sought to reassure its allies South Korea and Japan of its commitment to their defense after the launch, which followed a North Korean nuclear test on Jan. 6.

The United States and South Korea said they would begin formal talks about deploying the sophisticated Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, or THAAD, to the Korean peninsula “at the earliest possible date.”

South Korea had been reluctant to publicly discuss the possibility due to worries about upsetting China, its biggest trading partner.

Beijing, at odds with the United States over Washington’s reaction to its building of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, quickly expressed “deep concern” about a system whose radar could penetrate Chinese territory.

China had made its position clear to Seoul and Washington, the Foreign Ministry said.

“When pursuing its own security, one country should not impair others’ security interests,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement.

TIPPING POINT

But the North Korean rocket launch, on top of last month’s nuclear test, could be a “tipping point” for South Korea and win over parts of Seoul’s political establishment that remain wary of such a move, a U.S. official said.

South Korea and the United States said that if THAAD was deployed to South Korea, it would be focused only on North Korea.

An editorial in the Global Times, an influential tabloid published by the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper, called that assurance “feeble”.

“It is widely believed by military experts that once THAAD is installed, Chinese missiles will be included as its target of surveillance, which will jeopardize Chinese national security,” it said.

Japan, long concerned about North Korea’s ballistic missile program, has previously said it was considering THAAD to beef up its defenses. The North Korean rocket on Sunday flew over Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture.

Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Monday the Defense Ministry had no concrete plan to introduce THAAD, but added the ministry believed new military assets would strengthen the country’s capabilities.

Riki Ellison, founder of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said the launch would give Japan momentum to deploy THAAD.

Washington moved one of its five THAAD systems to Guam in 2013 following North Korean threats, and is now studying the possibility of converting a Hawaii test site for a land-based version of the shipboard Aegis missile defense system into a combat-ready facility.

EFFECTIVENESS QUESTIONED

Some experts questioned how effective THAAD would be against the type of long-range rocket launched by North Korea and the Pentagon concedes it has yet to be tested against such a device.

THAAD is designed to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles inside or just outside the atmosphere during their final, or terminal, phase of flight. It has so far proven effective against short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.

John Schilling, a contributor to the Washington-based 38 North project that monitors North Korea, said THAAD’s advanced AN/TPY-2 tracking radar built by Raytheon Co could provide an early, precise track on any such missile.

David Wright, co-director of the Global Security Program at the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said that while THAAD could not shoot down the type of rocket launched on Sunday its deployment could reassure the South Korean public.

“Much of what missile defense programs are about is reassuring allies and the public,” he said.

SUITABLE SITE IDENTIFIED

One U.S. official said the North Korean launch added urgency to longstanding informal discussions about a possible THAAD deployment to South Korea. “Speed is the priority,” said the official, who asked not to be named ahead of a formal decision.

Renewed missile-defense discussions with the United States could also send a message to Beijing that it needs to do more to rein in North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, another U.S. official said.

South Korean officials have already identified a suitable site for the system, but it could also be placed at a U.S. base on the Korean peninsula, Ellison said.

THAAD is a system built by Lockheed Martin Corp that can be transported by air, sea or land. The Pentagon has ordered two more batteries from Lockheed.

One of the four THAAD batteries based at Fort Bliss, Texas, is always ready for deployment overseas, and could be sent to Japan or South Korea within weeks, Ellison said.

Lockheed referred all questions about a possible THAAD deployment to the U.S. military.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, David Brunnstrom and Matt Spetalnick in Washington. Additional reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Tim Kelly in Tokyo and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Editing by Dean Yates and Lincoln Feast)

Japan puts military on alert for possible North Korean missile test

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan has put its military on alert for a possible North Korean ballistic missile launch after indications it is preparing for a test firing, two people with direct knowledge of the order told Reuters on Friday.

“Increased activity at North Korea’s missile site suggests that there may be a launch in the next few weeks,” said one of the sources, both of whom declined to be identified because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Tension rose in East Asia this month after North Korea’s fourth nuclear test, this time of what it said was a hydrogen bomb.

A missile test coming so soon after the nuclear test would raise concern that North Korea plans to fit nuclear warheads on its missiles, giving it the capability to launch a strike against rival South Korea, Japan and possibly targets as far away as the U.S. West Coast.

Japan’s Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani has ordered Aegis destroyers that operate in the Sea of Japan to be ready to target any North Korean projectiles heading for Japan, the sources said.

A Defense Ministry spokesman declined to say whether PAC-3 batteries and the Aegis destroyers had been deployed to respond to any threat from North Korea.

Nakatani, asked in a press briefing whether Japan would shoot down any North Korean missile, said: “We will take steps to respond, but I will refrain from revealing specific measures given the nature of the situation.”

The advanced Aegis vessels are able to track multiple targets and are armed with SM-3 missiles designed to destroy incoming warheads in space before they re-enter the atmosphere and fall to there targets.

Japan also has Patriot PAC-3 missile batteries around Tokyo and other sites to provide a last line of defense as warheads near the ground.

Rather than a direct attack, however, Japan is more concerned that debris from a missile test could fall on its territory.

(Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by Robert Birsel)

U.S. says redesigned missile defense interceptor aces test

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Missile Defense Agency on Thursday said it conducted a successful test of the ground-based U.S. missile defense system managed by Boeing Co aimed at demonstrating the effectiveness of a redesigned “kill vehicle” or warhead built by Raytheon Co.

The test purposely did not include an intercept by a ground-based interceptor launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, but was designed to observe the in-flight performance of the redesigned components and collect data on countermeasures carried by the target, according to statements by the agency and the companies involved.

Raytheon’s exoatmospheric kill vehicle, or EKV, is built to destroy incoming ballistic missiles by colliding them while they are still in space, a concept called “hit to kill.”

Thursday’s test was designed to demonstrate the ability of new “divert thrusters” that were developed by Raytheon to maneuver the warhead after a test failure several years ago.

The test, which involved various elements of the U.S. ballistic missile defense system, took place as U.S. officials said North Korea appeared to be preparing for a possible space launch that could advance its development of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

News of the possible North Korean space launch comes weeks after a fourth nuclear test conducted by Pyongyang on Jan. 6 that has raised concerns worldwide.

MDA said program officials would evaluate the performance of the U.S. missile defense system during Thursday’s test using telemetry and other data gathered during the test.

Raytheon’s EKV has an advanced, multi-color sensor used to detect and discriminate incoming warheads from other objects in space. It has its own propulsion, communications link, discrimination algorithms, guidance and control system and computers to support target selection and intercept.

Riki Ellison, founder of the nonprofit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said the test demonstrated new technology developed to make the EKV more reliable, which in turn would allow the U.S. military to shoot fewer interceptors at each incoming missile threat.

He said the successful test would “provide confidence to our public, reliability to the NORTHCOM (U.S. Northern Command) commander and deterrence against North Korea,” he said.

Ellison urged U.S. officials to add 10 more ground-based interceptors to the California site to provide an additional layer of defense for Hawaii and the western United States.

The U.S. military is already adding 14 interceptors to the 30 already in place, but those missiles will go to the other interceptor site in Alaska.

(Editing by Nick Macfie)