Good point and almost certainly true!Dodger wrote:I think they are using the new set of sanctions to buy our generals more time to quietly slide the pieces of the chess board where they want them.
There is a slight problem - the South under its new President says he does not want them! He has, however, accepted them. But they are not the be all and end all of missile defense, even when deployed along with other systems -Dodger wrote:The U.S. and Korean Army's have already installed a THAAD (Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense) interceptor pointed North which already has Kim wearing an adult diaper at night
https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-05-03/ ... outh-koreaThe system has not been tested in battle, and analysts are aware that an enemy could try to counter it by sending a swarm of missiles. “That’s always a problem with any air defense system, that you can simply overwhelm it” . . . North Korea [relies] on masses of missiles.
So THAAD is good, but no panacea. . . Most countries that try to build missile defense systems, aim for defense in depth. So in addition to THAAD, you might have sea-based Aegis missiles, that fire from warships and can cover other areas and are much more mobile. And then you have shorter-range Patriot missiles. You can connect all of these weapons to the same sensor and command network so you can coordinate your defenses.
There are two more possible problems. THAAD depends on radar guidance. Unquestionably Kim has masses of missiles pointed south stretched along the border area. Their distance from Seoul will therefore stretch from around a minimum of 35 to, say, 80 miles. How long does it actually take a ground-to-ground missile to travel 35 miles? I have no idea, but I imagine it is under two minutes. I also have no idea if THAAD and its radar systems are capable of locking on to a huge battery of missiles and being fired within that time period. I hope so!
Secondly, it is well known that Kim has an arsenal of the most horrific chemical and biological weapons. How these would be delivered and where they are stored, again I have no idea. But the North has shown its capability of infiltrating the South time and time again. It just needs a few embedded agents with a small amount of this stuff to get it into the atmosphere or the water supply or whatever. If not that way, then again with one or two missiles escaping the THAAD defenses.
Agree 100%Dodger wrote:All said...the only real success will be had through diplomatic efforts - not bombs going boom in the night.