The United States should put a missile-tracking radar in Hawaii and consider placing interceptor missiles there as well to better protect the island state against North Korean ballistic missiles, according to the head of U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM).
While existing U.S. ballistic missile defenses, including ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, are adequate to protect Hawaii today, North Korea might eventually be able to overwhelm those defenses with the long-range weapons it is developing, said Navy Adm. Harry Harris, who testified before the House Armed Services Committee April 26.
“I think that the defense-of-Hawaii radar is coming,” Harris said. “I think the interceptors piece is something that’s yet to be determined, but I believe we should certainly look at it.”
While the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX), a modified oil-drilling platform, provides powerful missile-tracking capability in the Pacific Ocean, “we only have one of those, and we use it a lot,” Harris told lawmakers. “We have to be concerned about the material condition of the platform itself, which is old, and the civilian crews that man it.”
The Navy is testing its new SPY-6 air and missile defense radar in Hawaii, but Harris has “a different kind of radar” in mind to defend the state. “There are a couple of defense contractors that are interested in providing that,” he said.
Harris said a study on whether interceptors should be placed in Hawaii could look at several candidates, including the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA that the United States is developing with Japan..
After the hearing, Rep. William “Mac” Thornberry (R-Texas), the committee chairman, told reporters that he would support exploring the admiral’s suggestions.
“If the combatant commander says we ought to study this, I listen, and so it sounds to me like maybe we ought to study it,” Thornberry said. “Whether it has to be in the [fiscal year 2018 defense authorization] bill language, I don’t know. We are going to have to, in my opinion, put our foot on the accelerator in missile defense not just for this threat but for the threats around the world that we are facing. That includes radars, it includes more interceptors and it also includes research on other forms of missile defense because what we have now has some limitations.”
A Missile Defense Agency spokesman declined to discuss possible new assets for Hawaii, saying that “any future missile defense architecture efforts will be considered as part of” the overall ballistic missile defense review that President Donald Trump told the Department of Defense to conduct. DoD plans to complete that review by year’s end.
Harris addressed other weapon system issues during his testimony. He said he can meet only 50 percent of his attack submarine requirements due to a shortage of those vessels, and that that figure will fall to 42 percent by the late 2020s if the fleet shrinks as projected. While the Navy’s recent force structure assessments calls for building more submarines, it is unclear if the tens of billions of dollars in needed funding will materialize.
Harris said PACOM has a shortage of Small Diameter Bombs because it has given part of its inventory to U.S. Central Command and U.S. Africa Command to use against terrorist groups. PACOM also has shortfalls of AIM-9X Sidewinder and AIM-120D AMRAAM air-to-air missiles and Mk 48 torpedoes.
Harris advocated the pursuit of advanced weapons but said that a problem for the United States is that it is barred from developing land-based hypersonic weapons under the U.S.-Russian Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
Harris called himself a “fan” of the Navy’s new Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) and predicted he will be a “bigger fan” of the Future Frigate, a more capable version of LCS.
Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) expressed concern about potential cuts to the new Surface Ship Torpedo Defense system at a time when North Korea is threatening to sink Navy vessels. Harris replied that the service will be forced to make “tough decisions” if its budget remains constrained.
Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) said she plans to introduce two bills to strengthen security in the Asia-Pacific. One bill would form an interagency cell to integrate intelligence on North Korea, while the other would create a commission to promote deeper defense cooperation between the United States and its allies in the region.