Defense chief's SLBM claims doubted

Defense Minister Han Min-koo

By Kang Seung-woo

Military analysts raised doubts over Defense Minister Han Min-koo’s claim that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system can intercept North Korea’s submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), Monday.

In the wake of Pyongyang’s latest test-firing of an SLBM off its east coast Saturday, the minister said Sunday that the these can be destroyed by the missile defense system that Seoul and Washington decided last week to deploy here.

However, analysts believe that its capability against SLBMs is limited, adding that such an SLBM interception can happen when a target only comes within radar coverage.

According to the defense ministry, THAAD’s X-band radar has a 120 degree field of view.

“As the THAAD radar can only offer a 120 degree azimuth, not 360 degrees, it has limitations in tracking SLBMs,” said Yang Uk, a senior research fellow at the Korea Defense and Security Forum.

“THAAD will be deployed to mainly counter North Korea’s ground-to-ground missiles at the terminal phase and it is not an ideal countermeasure to the SLBMs.”

Shin In-kyun, the president of the Korea Defense Network, echoed Yang’s view.

“Given that the THAAD radar only has a 120 degree field of view, the North can exploit the limitation by dispatching its submarines into rear areas of South Korean waters, which will make THAAD useless against SLBMs,” he said.

“It is not likely that North Korean submarines will enter the radar’s azimuth and launch missiles there.”

Given this limitation, the defense minister also said the South Korean Navy will make efforts to detect and incapacitate submarines carrying SLBMs before they are launched.

Military analysts suggest that the South Korean military seek other measures to effectively counter SLBMs rather than with THAAD, including a nuclear-powered submarine and SM-3 missiles.

“A fundamental countermeasure to SLBMs is enhancing our submarine capabilities and more specifically, we should have nuclear-powered submarines,” Yang said.

“The best defense against the SLBMs is to prevent them from being launched and in this respect, nuclear submarines can track North Korean submarines equipped with missiles in real time and destroy them in the case of war.”

Shin said SM-3s will be capable of intercepting SLBMs in an effective manner.

“As the South Korean Navy has Aegis-equipped destroyers, they can be armed with SM-3 missiles with the full 360 degree radar range azimuth,” he said.

Along with THAAD, the SM-3 that can intercept missiles at an altitude of 400-500 kilometers is regarded as an indispensable element of the U.S. missile defense system.