Page 12 - ADT JANUARY 2021 Online Magazine

as 10 more launchers. The estimated size of the country's total Minister Taro Kono announced that the coun-
operational IBCM force has now touched 100, it says. try had decided to not go ahead with the plan
to deploy the U.S.-made Aegis Ashore ballis-
Swift Response tic missile-defense system. He cited cost and
South Korea responded quickly to the unveiling of its neighbor’s technical issues as the reasons for the decision.
SLBM by completing a test launch of its indigenously made SLBM. The military had initially decided to install the
Final underwater test launches of the missile, which is said to systems at Japan Ground Self-Defense Force
be based on its 500 km-range Hyeonmu-2B ballistic missile, are (JGSDF) bases at Akita and Yamaguchi prefec- [ MISSILE SYSTEMS ]
scheduled for March this year. The missiles, which will be fitted tures. The projected 10-year delay to ensure
with conventional warheads, are likely to be deployed on 3,000 that interceptor missile boosters fell safely
tonne-class submarines or larger ones. South Korean shipbuilder on unpopulated areas was a major reason for
Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, it may be recalled, had the plan being dropped. Eager to ensure that
displayed a model of the 3,000-tonne KSS III submarine class at the gap is filled quickly, the defence ministry
a defense industry exhibition in 2019. is working on an alternative to the rejected
system and is looking at the feasibility of having
South Korea’s SLBM is seen by analysts as a deterrent; the coun- a system that can float on a platform at sea.
try’s focus is more on boosting its missile defense shield to thwart Meanwhile, the country will continue to rely on
its neighbor’s evolving missile capability. According to the Ministry its Aegis-equipped destroyers to provide a pro-
of National Defense, the military will spend about $240 billion on tective shield against a potential attack by North
the initiative. To improve the Korea Air and Missile Defense system Korean missiles. Aegis-equipped warships
(KAMD) by ensuring a larger defense area with increased inter- provide Japan the first line of defense against
cept capabilities, the country will acquire two more ground-based an incoming missile during its midcourse tra-
anti-missile early warning radars and three more Aegis-equipped jectory. Japan’s second line of defense is its
destroyers. Aegis, a sea-based missile defense system, is an area Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) mobile
defense weapon that can defend wide areas against missiles that systems that can be deployed to protect high-
fly high altitudes. value targets, such as military bases and cities,
using hit-to-kill interceptors during the terminal
phase of an incoming missile’s flight path.

Homegrown Solution
India’s ballistic missile defense (BMD) system,
work on which began in 1999 following the
Kargil War, is reportedly complete. The Indian
Air Force (IAF) and the Defense Research and
Development Organization (DRDO) has sought
government approval to install and activate the
system near New Delhi. The installation of the
system is expected to take three to four years.
The country is also currently developing L-SAM, an indigenously The indigenous system , designed to intercept
made long-range surface-to-air missile, as part of its defence medium range ballistic missiles, is two-tiered.
against North Korean short-range ballistic missiles. Another key The first layer of defence is the Prithvi Air
element of the missile shield is Cheolmae II, a domestically man- Defense (PAD)/Pradyumna and Prithvi Defense
ufactured medium-range surface-to-air missile that can engage Vehicle (PDV) interceptors that are capable of
an incoming target at an altitude as high as 20 kilometers. South destroying missiles at exo-atmospheric alti-
Korea has also deployed several batteries of upgraded Patriot tudes of 50–180 kilometers. A single stage solid
Advanced Capability-2, or PAC-2, systems; the Patriot system rocket-propelled AAD/Ashin interceptor mis-
has the ability to intercept missiles directed against smaller areas sile, designed to shoot down incoming enemy
such as an air base. South Korea is also further protected by the missiles in the endo-atmosphere at altitudes
U.S.’ Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile battery, of 15-40 kilometers, constitutes the second
which has been deployed in the country since 2017. South Korea’s layer. PAD and PDV have been designed for
missile defense system and the U.S. anti-missile defense system mid-course interception, while AAD is used for
deployed in the country operate independently, even though they terminal phase interception system after mis-
are coordinated. siles enter the earth’s atmosphere. The DRDO
had successfully tested an AAD interceptor
Change of Mind missile against a medium-range ballistic mis-
Japan, another country vulnerable to a possible North Korean mis- sile target in August 2018. The country had
sile attack, had to revise its originally announced plans of expanding also conducted its first successful anti-satellite
its ballistic missile defense system. In June last year, Defense (ASAT) test - “Mission Shakti” - in March 2019.

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