Tag: PATRIOT

This article claims the Patriot batteries removed from Saudi Arabia are heading to “Northeast Asia” which likely would mean South Korea:

On May 5, a report by imagery experts at Jane’s Intelligence Review and the Center for Strategic and International Studies confirmed in the unclassified space the existence of a near-completed missile assembly and storage facility large enough to accommodate all known North Korean ballistic missiles and launchers. It is an almost braggadocious representation of the missile modernization program North Korea has pursued over the past decade while simultaneously feigning sincerity about curbing its nuclear pursuits.

As such, the removal of Patriot batteries from Saudi Arabia should not be a surprise. They will once again be moved to Northeast Asia to guard against the more imminent threat from an unpredictable Kim Jong-un.

The National Interest

You can read more at the link, but the Patriot batteries in Saudi Arabia were deployed there from units based in the U.S. They are just not going to pick up and move to Korea. Their redeployment means they are going back to the United States. Sending them to South Korea would be a large troop build up and after the THAAD fiasco does anyone think the Moon administration is ready for more U.S. troops and missile defenses to be sent to South Korea?

What is likely going on is that returning the Patriots to the U.S. would give U.S. military planners flexibility to deploy them to augment missile defenses in Korea if a crisis was to occur. The batteries being deployed to Saudi Arabia reduces this flexibility. Additionally it is arguable that providing the missile defenses to Saudis also take the onus off of them to buy and equip their own missile defense to defend themselves.

This exercise was unrelated to the recent North Korean missile launch over Japan, but I think it is pretty significant that the Japanese are willing to demonstrate that they can deploy their own Patriot batteries defend a US airbase:

Japan’s air force demonstrated a Patriot missile-defense system at Yokota in western Tokyo Tuesday, just hours after a North Korean missile flew over Hokkaido.

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force is deploying Patriot Advanced Capability-3 surface-to-air systems to several U.S. bases in Japan to test their ability to quickly respond to Pyongyang’s missile threats, a U.S. Forces Japan statement said.

A convoy of trucks carrying PAC-3 components arrived at Yokota, headquarters of USFJ and the 5th Air Force, Tuesday morning. The planned deployment happened soon after North Korea test-fired a missile over Japanese territory, prompting alerts in a dozen prefectures before falling into the ocean east of Hokkaido. It was the latest in a string of missile tests this year, including one that appeared to simulate a nuclear attack on U.S. forces in Japan.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

USFK’s Patriot missile defense batteries have become more capable:

The U.S. Army announced that its 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, successfully completed a Patriot missile defense system modernization effort that will provide protection from potential North Korean attacks.

Targa Gibbs, Patriot modernization project officer of the brigade, said that the eight-month task was aimed at ensuring that everything worked and met the industry standard, and training soldiers and crew on the new equipment.

“As part of the training, the batteries networked into the battalion data link architecture from geographically dispersed locations around the peninsula and conducted air battles,” the army said in a statement Monday.

The largest benefit of the overhaul was said to be the replacement of many systems and updating outdated technology. In part of an ongoing plan to enhance air defense capabilities on the Korean Peninsula, the brigade will, in the coming months, modernize their Avengers surface-to-air missile system that protects ground units from incoming short-range missiles, said the army.

The statement did not mention whether the brigade adopted and trained for the all-new Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE), a Lockheed Martin hit-to-kill interceptor, but a local military source told the JoongAng Ilbo that it has.

The PAC-3 MSE incorporates a larger, dual-pulse solid rocket motor, larger fins and upgraded actuators and thermal batteries, according to descriptions from Lockheed Martin.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link as well from the original press release from the Army.

Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning was in Korea and told the ROK media that along with the deployment of the THAAD battery the US is also looking to upgrade its remaining Patriot PAC-2 batteries to the more advanced PAC-3 configuration:

The United States will focus on upgrading the Patriot PAC-2 missile systems in South Korea to the more advanced PAC-3 anti-missile shield to better protect the Seoul metropolitan areas by 2018, the U.S. Army’s senior civilian official said Tuesday.

“Right now, we are focusing on upgrading the Patriot system that we have here in Korea,” United States Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning told Yonhap News Agency in a group interview held in the Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul.

He didn’t specifically confirm local reports that Seoul and Washington are planning to replace the PAC-2 system currently in the country with the more lethal PAC-3 system by the end of 2018, although he hinted that such a move is likely.

“I have seen the potential for the upgrades,” the 47-year-old official said during the interview while he visited the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade at the air base, adding that the change to a PAC-3 from PAC-2 will allow forces in the country to better cope with evolving nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.  [Yonhap]

Here is what he had to say about the health effects of the THAAD radar:

Asked about local concerns of health risks that might be caused by the powerful radar used in the anti-missile defense system, he pointed out that examination of electromagnetic waves from the operational THAAD battery in Guam showed clearly it poses no problems. The U.S. allowed a group of Korean reporters to visit the U.S. territory and check the level of electromagnetic waves emanating from the AN/TPY-2 radar.

Despite the test results, residents in Seongju, 296 kilometers south of Seoul, have asked the deployment plan to be scrapped, saying that they cannot trust the results. Seoul had tapped the rural town as the site for South Korea’s first THAAD battery last month, with the interceptor system to be operational by 2017.

You can read more at the link.

Visiting U.S. Secretary of the Army Eric Fanning (C) poses with U.S. soldiers in front of Patriot PAC-3 advanced missiles during a visit to the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade of the U.S. Forces Korea’s (USFK) Eighth Army in Osan, south of Seoul, on Aug. 2, 2016. The brigade in charge of intercepting North Korean missiles is expected to run the THAAD missile defense system to be deployed in the country’s southeastern town of Seongju as well. THAAD stands for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense. (Yonhap)

Why isn’t the Korean left busy protesting this radar and claiming it will make people sick and cause crop failures?:

A U.S. Patriot missile battery in Japan has been brought to South Korea for a joint exercise amid growing concerns about additional provocations from North Korea, an official of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said, Friday.

The Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 interceptor unit of the U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ), stationed at the Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, arrived in Busan on July 13 and is now participating in a drill with South Korean military in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province.

The Patriot unit is made up of 120 troops, with a launch vehicle and radar.

It is the first time a Japan-based U.S. Patriot battery has been sent to South Korea.

“The PAC-3 unit is currently training with South Korean troops,” the USFK official told reporters. “The unit will return to Japan after completing the training scheduled to last two weeks.” [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link as well as over at the Stars & Stripes.

The US and ROK militaries have a number of Patriot sites in South Korea and the Korean left does not protest them because there is no political advantage in doing so like there is with the planned deployment of the THAAD battery to Korea.  The Patriots have been South Korea for decades and no one is getting sick or having their crops fail.  The same will eventually be true with the THAAD battery as well.

The Patriot PAC-3 is designed to shootdown short range ballistic missiles not an intermediate range missile which the category the Musudan falls under.  That is what the THAAD system is for:

A medium-range ballistic missile launched Wednesday by North Korea flew at an average speed of Mach 11.3, or 11.3 times faster than the speed of sound, according to an analysis of a timeline seen on a monitor at the launch site.

The hypersonic speed of Mach 11.3 has sharply raised concerns about the capabilities of the Patriotic Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile defense system that the South Korean military has purchased to upgrade its existing PAC-2 missile defense system. The PAC-3 flies at Mach 3.5 to 5 and intercepts incoming missiles at altitudes of up to 40 kilometers (25 miles).   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but a professor at the Korea National Defense University explains in the article that THAAD can shoot down the Musudan.  This is all the more reason why both Japan and the ROK should look at either purchasing their own THAAD system or deploying one into theater from the US.

It is interesting that you don’t hear the Chinese or Russians complaining about the deployment of this Patriot battery to South Korea like you have about the THAAD battery when both systems have no capability to shoot down their ICBMs.  It will also be interesting to see how long it will take before a THAAD battery is deployed to South Korea as well:

 

The United States temporarily deployed an additional Patriot missile battery in South Korea in response to North Korea’s nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch, ahead of talks next week to set up an even more sophisticated U.S. missile defense in a move that has worried China and Russia.

The new tough stance follows South Korea’s decision to shut down an inter-Korean factory park that had been the rival Koreas’ last major symbol of cooperation, but that Seoul said had been used by North Korea to fund its nuclear and missile programs. North Korea responded by deporting South Korean citizens, seizing South Korean assets and vowing to militarize the park.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Congratulations to Major Lee for the command assignment and I hope she does well:

A female battery commander has been appointed for the first time in Korean air defense history. Maj. Lee Yeong-mi, selected on Jan. 6, will lead the Patriot artillery unit.

Although the Air Defense Artillery School has had a female battery commander in the past, her appointment is unprecedented because as a commander, Major Lee will be in charge of military operations.

Lee grew up in a military family and long dreamed of becoming an officer. As a child, she often listened to the war stories of her grandfather, who fought for the South during the 1950-53 Korean War.

“I wanted to devote myself to my country, following in the footsteps of my grandfather, and protect it,” Lee said.

She ultimately chose to join the Air Force under her family’s influence. Her father, Lee Seong-kyo, was an Air Force aviation maintenance sergeant when he was discharged from the Army, and her younger brother, Lee Jong-jin, is an Air Force master sergeant.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but it wasn’t that long ago that females in the ROK military were the ones fetching the coffee, so this is another example of how quickly things in Korea can change.

It looks like 35th ADA has wore out their welcome in Gwangju, actually I don’t think they were ever welcomed to begin with:

A battery of U.S. Patriot missiles stationed in the Gwangju area will be moved to Waegwan in North Gyeongsang Province by December, it emerged Thursday. U.S. Forces Korea command plans to relocate the 16 PAC-3 missiles, the 450-member 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade 2-1 and two air defense batteries.

The missiles were moved to Gwangju in Novermber 2004 despite violent protests from anti-American organizations, university students and labor groups, and there is speculation that the move is a belated response to them. But U.S. officials say the move is strategically motivated and has nothing to do with anti-American sentiment. The chief of the air defense unit, Lt.-Col. Marcus Black, met with Gwangju leaders at the base on Aug. 18 to reveal the plans. It is understood that Black would not comment whether the relocation had anything to do with local resentment.

The relocation of the Patriot missiles to Gwangju came after Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff requested that the U.S. deploy the missiles there to protect the Gwangju Air Base. The USFK deplays a total of 64 Patriots at bases in Suwon, Osan, Gunsan and Gwangju.

It wasn’t a very good idea to put PATRIOT’s in Gwangju to begin with because of the anti-Americanism and communist sympathies down there, but incidents like February’s Gochu-gate incident didn’t help matters either. As far as defending the city from North Korean attack, I don’t think the Korean government is to concerned about that because if the North Koreans bombed Gwangju it would be like bombing one of their own cities.