Raytheon May Have A Quick Fix For Seoul’s Vulnerability To North Korean Attack (From Forbes)
The proximity of South Korea’s capital to North Korea is a huge complication for U.S. military planners trying to figure out how to deal with the nuclear threat posed by the North. Because it is within 35 miles of the border, Seoul — and about half of the South’s entire population — is within range of artillery and rocket launchers that Pyongyang has arrayed along the Demilitarized Zone. But Raytheon has a solution to that danger, thanks to the Iron Dome air and missile defense system that Washington has helped Israel to develop. The Massachusetts-based company has repackaged Iron Dome — which has conducted over 1,500 successful intercepts — as SkyHunter, and is offering it for sale to the U.S. military. Combined with other defensive systems already deployed in South Korea such as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense that can intercept longer-range missiles, SkyHunter could make it much harder for Pyongyang to hold the South Korean capital hostage in a future conflict. I have written a commentary for Forbes here.
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