US Forces Accelerate Integration of THAAD and Patriot … First Joint Training in Four Regions

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Gwi-geun Kim = The first time the US conducted joint drills with missile units in the four Pacific regions accelerated the integration of high altitude missile defense (THAAD) systems and Patriot missile systems (PAC-3) It is interpreted as a show of willingness to do.

The United States, which has been training missile defense (MD) on a bilateral or tripartite basis, such as Korea-USA. US, US-Japan and Korea-US. USA-Japan, has a two-week calendar from the beginning of this month. I made the difference.

For the training that ended on the 12th, a command post was established in Japan’s Fifth Air Force, 38th Air Defense Artillery Brigade (38th Brigade, Japan), 94th Air Missile Defense Command of the Army (94th Command) in Hawaii and the 35th air defense artillery in Osan, Gyeonggi province, the Brigade (35th Brigade) and the Guam E-3 THAAD battery participated.

94 The Command at Hikham Air Force Base, Hawaii, directs US ballistic missile operations.In peacetime, they support the 35th and 38th brigades, but in case of emergency, they move to Korea or Japan to fulfill their functions.

Under the jurisdiction of the Indo-Pacific Command of the United States, these four regional units operate, directly or indirectly, the THAAD system and the Patriot missile system. On the surface, it appears that a missile unit under the jurisdiction of the Indo-Pacific Command is building an MD belt.

These units practiced a command post in a computer simulation method that simulated a ballistic missile attack. It appears that the command post prepared in the 5th Air Force, the US forces in Korea and Japan, and the THAAD battery in Guam were connected through a network to exchange and practice information such as ballistic missile detection and tracking.

Experts note that this training is likely to reflect not only short-range ballistic missiles, but also conditions such as intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

This is because the Japanese Fifth Air Force actively participated in the training. The participation of the 5th Air Force suggests the possibility of training in conjunction with the power to collect spatial information like military satellites, argued a military expert.

Some military experts explained that the first joint exercises of the four regional units had the main objective of reinforcing the insufficient network communication system.

One expert said: “It seems that the data link system between the subordinate units of the Indo-Pacific Command is not that smooth,” he said. “This time, it appears that the network’s communication capabilities have been strengthened through ballistics simulation training for missile launches.”

However, there are other opinions.

It is worth paying attention to this training conducted by the United States in the process of integrating the THAAD system and the Patriot missile system in stages to deal with missile threats from North Korea and China. In other words, there is a possibility that it will be a training that tests the THAAD and Patriot integration process.

The ultimate goal of the US is to combine the upper defense system with the THAAD and Aegis BMD (ballistic missile defense) systems in the Pacific region as the core, and the lower defense system with the new Patriot’PAC- 3 MSE ‘. Isn ‘that the basis for achieving that goal?

The USFK is also conducting a three-stage THAAD system performance improvement program (Joint Emergency Operations Needs – JEON) and ultimately aims to integrate the THAAD and Patriot missiles into a single operation.

The first step is to remotely control and control the launcher by detaching and fixing the previously connected launcher from the THAAD battery in Seongju, Gyeongbuk. The second step is having the ability to fire the PAC-3 MSE using the information from the THAAD radar before the Patriot radar detects the target.

The final third step is to integrate the Patriot launcher and the PAC-3 MSE into the THAAD system to implement the Patriot remote launch.

One military expert said: “The training of the four regional missile units of the US armed forces should be seen as the general context for improving the performance of the US MD system.”

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