United States to deploy additional Patriot air defense missile systems in South Korea 11402162

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Defence & Security News - South Korea
 
United States to deploy additional Patriot air defense missile systems in South Korea.
The United States temporarily deployed an additional Patriot air defense missile battery in South Korea in response to North Korea's nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch. In the meantime, the U.S. military command in South Korea said Saturday that an air defense battery unit from Ft. Bliss, Texas, has been conducting ballistic missile training using the Patriot system at Osan Air Base near Seoul.
     
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. In the meantime, the U.S. military command in South Korea said Saturday that an air defense battery unit from Ft. Bliss, Texas, has been conducting ballistic missile training using the Patriot system at Osan Air Base near Seoul. Korean Augmentee to U.S. Army Cpl. Zion Rhee, a maintenance operator assigned to the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, translates a brief to five congress members of the Republic of Korea Ministry of National Defense during their visit to the Delta Battery, 6-52 Air Defense Artillery tactical site Aug. 28, 2014. (DVIDS picture)
     
A spokeswoman for U.S. Forces Korea couldn’t confirm how long the Patriot missile battery from Texas would be deployed in South Korea. The U.S. military already has an operating Patriot missile defense system in South Korea to counter the threat of North Korea’s shorter-range arsenal and medium-range missiles.

North Korea continues to develop a mobile intercontinental ballistic missile that “would likely be capable of reaching much of the continental United States,” the Pentagon said in a new report to Congress on the secretive regime’s military capabilities.

North Korea has created a new unit that can deploy new KN-08 road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), sources told South Korea's Yonhap news agency on Sunday, February 14, 2016.

The KN-08 was first revealed in April 2012 during the military parade to celebrate the 100th birthday of Kim Il-sung, North Korea’s founder and the father of the current North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The KN-08 has a range of at least 6,200 miles (10,000 km) and the Pentagon said Friday in a report to Congress that if the KN-08 was properly designed and developed than it would be difficult to track the missile down due to its mobility.