In Order For U.S. Missile Defense To Work Against North Korean Missiles, The Interceptions Will Need To Occur Over Russia

Depiction of ground based interceptor fired against an ICBM launched from North Korea. Joshua Pollack

Patrick Tucker, Defense One: If North Korea Fires an ICBM, the US Might Have to Shoot It Down Over Russia

Missile-defense physics may require interceptors to fly into ‘the teeth of the Russian early warning net.’

If Pyongyang fires a missile at the United States, its most-likely trajectory would take it over the North Pole. A U.S. attempt to shoot down that missile would probably occur within Russian radar space — and possibly over Russia itself. “It’s something we’re aware of,” Gen. Lori Robinson, who leads both U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, said Wednesday. “It’s something we work our way through.”

By year’s end, the U.S. will have deployed 44 ground-based interceptors, or GBIs: 40 at Fort Greeley, Alaska, and four at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. If deterrence fails, those interceptors would be the last line of defense against a North Korean missile. Each incoming ICBM might be met with four or more GBIs.

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WNU Editor: If Russia early warning systems detects missiles heading into Russian air-space .... they will not know if these are missile interceptors .... they will treat it as a nuclear attack.