US to conduct 1st ICBM intercept test this week

By Jun Ji-hye

The United States plans to conduct the first-ever test of a missile defense system on Tuesday to shoot down an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) heading to the U.S. mainland, according to AP.

The test comes as North Korea seems close to developing a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile capable of striking the continental U.S.

Since 1999, Washington has carried out 17 interceptor tests against other types of ballistic missiles, but never an ICBM. Among the tests, nine were a success with the most recent success in June 2014.

AP said an interceptor will be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and attempt to destroy the target, which will be fired from a test range on Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific.

The target will be a custom-made missile meant to simulate an ICBM, AP added.

During his New Year’s address, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un claimed his regime was in the final stages of test-firing an ICBM.

The North’s KN-08 or KN-14 road-mobile ICBM, which has been never tested, is believed to have a range of more than 10,000 kilometers.

On May 15, Pyongyang announced it successfully test-fired a new surface-to-surface medium- to long-range ballistic missile “capable of carrying a large-size heavy nuclear warhead” and reaching the U.S. mainland. Experts assessed that this missile was an intermediate-range missile (IRBM), believed to be a step toward developing a functional ICBM.

Marine Lt. Gen. Vincent Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said last week that if “left unchecked,” the reclusive state is on an “inevitable” path to mastering the ICBM capability to strike the U.S.

Regarding the scheduled intercept test, Christopher Johnson, spokesman for the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, told AP that the agency conducts increasingly complex test scenarios as the program matures and advances.

“Testing against an ICBM-type threat is the next step in that process,” he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy has decided to deploy the USS Nimitz as a third aircraft carrier that leads a strike group to the Western Pacific in a show of force against Pyongyang, according to Japan’s Asahi Shimbun, Saturday.

The Nimitz will join the USS Carl Vinson and USS Ronald Reagan, which have already been in the region, the Japanese newspaper said, noting that it is rare for the U.S. armed forces to deploy three aircraft carriers to the same region at the same time.