AP
by Bill Gertz
North Korea’s deployment of a new road-mobile missile that can hit the United States prompted the Pentagon on Friday to add more ground-based anti-missile interceptors to bases in Alaska and California, senior defense and military officials said on Friday.
Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon that North Korea’s new, road-mobile KN-08 ICBM has emerged as a threat “a little bit faster than we expected.”
“We believe the KN-08 probably does have the range to reach the United States, and our assessment of where it exists and its lifetime is something that would remain classified,” Winnefeld said.
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday that “we believe North Korea has already taken initial steps towards fielding this [KN-08] system, although it remains untested.”
Winnefeld also warned North Korea the United States is prepared to take military action if deterrence fails and Pyongyang should attack.
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The new steps include:
- Adding 14 Ground-based Interceptors at Fort Greely, Alaska and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.;
- Moving a second TPY-2 long-range missile defense radar to Japan to monitor and track North Korean missile launches;
- Conducting an environmental study for a third ground-based Interceptor site on the East Coast to counter long-range Iranian missiles;
- Canceling deployment in 2022 of an advanced and more capable version of the Navy SM-3 missile called variant IIB for use against Iranian long-range-missiles. The program was cut to save money.
