The Army plans to deploy a missile-defense battery to South Korea within 10 months, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea said recently.
Defense Department officials including Secretary Ash Carter and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley have talked of plans to station a Lockheed Martin [LMT] Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea to counter North Korean sabre rattling since the deployment was announced in July.
Gen. Vincent Brooks, who commands all U.S. Forces in Korea, mentioned the specific timeline at a Nov. 4 forum hosted by the Association of the Republic of Korea Army in Seoul. Brooks is also commander of U.N. Command and Combined Forces Command.
“You’re going to see the deployment of a THAAD battery. This is an alliance decision. It will come in the next eight to 10 months,” Brooks was quoted as saying by South Korean media.
Pentagon Spokesman Peter Cook on Tuesday said the U.S. and South Korean governments continue to negotiate the THAAD deployment.
“The deployment of the THAAD … is something we continue to work closely with the South Korean government,” Cook said during a press conference at the Pentagon. “We want to do this as quickly as possible. General Brooks I know referenced a time period. We’d like to do it as soon as possible, and this is something that we’ll work — continue to work very closely with the South Korean government.”
Cook would not talk specifics of the size or scope of the THAAD deployment, but said the system will be capable of defending South Korea and U.S. strategic interests from a rogue North Korea. The missile deployment will be one of “a significant number of defensive steps that we can take to help protect South Korea of course, and also protect the United States at the same time,” he said.
The decision to deploy THAAD was announced in July by the South Korean and U.S. governments. Another missile-defense system with two primary and one reserve launcher was temporarily stationed in Guam in 2013 and has since been made permanent. The Korean THAAD battery will be larger, Brooks reportedly said.
U.S. officials have argued that THAAD, which intercepts missiles inside and outside the Earth’s atmosphere, is a necessary deterrent against North Korean ballistic missile threats, but China has raised its own concerns with the potential deployment. The deployment plans have met with resistance from China, which views U.S. missile defense capabilities in Korea as an affront.