South Korea's Ministry of National Defense said that the US is incorporating a new equipment into the THAAD system located in Seongju, which lies about 200 km south of Seoul. (US Missile Defense Agency)
The United States is equipping South Korea's Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system with performance improvement equipment, South Korea's Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a press release on October 7.
According to the press release, the US is incorporating the new equipment into the THAAD system located in Seongju, which lies about 200 km south of Seoul.
The MND added that the new equipment will improve “the defence capability of the existing THAAD system to protect the [South] Korean people from the North Korean missile threat and further strengthen the defence capability for core assets”.
The MND has not given details of the new equipment at the time of publication, but it may be related to an effort to better integrate the THAAD system with the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile-defence system.
The MND said that the United States Forces Korea (UNFK) is upgrading the THAAD system to “improve the interoperability between the THAAD system and the PAC-3 missile-defence system”.
Janes learnt that the UNFK has been working on a Joint Emergent Operational Need (JEON) programme. JEON is a three-step programme that will integrate the THAAD system and the PAC-3 missile-defence system.
To remotely fire launchers, the first step is to separate the launchers from the THAAD battery. A full THAAD battery consists of six launchers, a fire-control unit, a THAAD radar known as AN/TPY-2, and support units.
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