By Lee Tae-hoon
The government will speed up its move for more sophisticated missile interceptors as the country’s secondhand Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) systems from Germany have been evaluated as unable to counter North Korean missile threats.
Officials said a recent joint study by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses and the Missile Defense Agency of the U.S. has found that the PAC-2 system has a successful interception rate of below 40 percent.
“A variety of simulations have concluded that in order to raise the interception rate to above 70 percent, the South Korean military has to move to the PAC-3 system,” a senior official said.
A senior defense official, however, downplayed the possibility of purchasing the PAC-3 system from U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin, saying the military is mulling developing one with its own technology and considering a retrofit of the PAC-2.
South Korea purchased 48 PAC-2 systems from Germany for 1.1 trillion won ($1 billion) in 2007 but the launchers can't be used with a PAC-3 system without a major modification.
Military experts point out that the PAC-2’s computer system is too slow to intercept North Korean missiles, which are thought to be capable of hitting major South Korean cities in four to nine minutes after launch.
The PAC-2 has an exploding warhead which denotes when close to the incoming target, whereas the PAC-3 employees hit-to-kill technology, which allows the latter’s interception rate to be twice as high as the older one.
The PAC-2 is designed to shoot down enemy fighter jets and helicopters flying at an attitude lower than 20 kilometers and is unsuitable for destroying North Korean ballistic missiles. The PAC-3 is capable of intercepting incoming North Korean Scud or medium-range ballistic missiles at an altitude of 30 kilometers.
Seoul has deployed the used PAC-2 systems, instead of new PAC-3s, due largely to budget constraints as part of its plan to build an independent theater missile defense shield, dubbed the Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) network.
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin expressed the need to acquire the PAC-3 system last Wednesday after holding a Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) with U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Washington.
“A plan is underway to launch a project to build a PAC-3 system by upgrading the PAC-2,” he said in a joint press briefing with Panetta.
Kim also stressed that the country will establish a "kill chain" to detect, target and destroy North Korean ballistic missiles, which are capable of hitting South Korea, Japan and Guam.
Military officials forecast that the PAC-3 system or an upgraded version of the PAC-2 will be introduced as early as in 2014 given that Seoul and Washington agreed to complete the kill chain by 2015.
Meanwhile, the defense ministry has ruled out the possibility of joining in the U.S. missile defense system, stressing that building the KAMD does not mean partaking in U.S. efforts to build a multi-layer defense system.
Speculation over Seoul’s joining the U.S. defense system grew after Panetta told the media after the SCM talks that Washington was still in consultations with Seoul over its future role in the regional system.