The (Untested) Boost-Phase Intercept May Stop a North Korean Missile Attack

choi

(1) Arthur Herman, There's a Way to Stop a North Korean Missile Attack. Wall Street Journal, Mar 13, 2017 (op-ed).
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the ... e-attack-1489355797
http://luxlibertas.com/theres-a- ... ean-missile-attack/

Quote:

(a) "To its credit, the Obama administration agreed to install land-based and sea-based missile technology like Thaad and Aegis to protect South Korea and Japan. The problem with these systems is that they can shoot down an incoming ballistic missile only toward the end of its flight, as it re-enters the atmosphere. That narrows the margin for error. If the interceptor misses or intercepts a nuclear-armed missile too close to a target like Tokyo or Okinawa, the result could still be catastrophic.

"There's a better alternative. Technology exists now for stopping a North Korean missile launch much earlier, in its boost phase. It's called boost-phase intercept, or BPI, and the U.S. and Japan have the means to deploy it.

(b) "A BPI would be launched not from a ground- or sea-based system like Thaad or Aegis, but from an unmanned aerial vehicle waiting at 55,000 feet and equipped with infrared sensors that will detect missile launches from 350 miles outside North Korean airspace. * * * The aerial vehicle would be equipped with a conventional antimissile missile of 225 kilograms, more than enough firepower to bring down even a large intercontinental ballistic missile. * * * Leonard Caveny, who served as science and technology director for President Reagan's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, has estimated that a proof-of-concept launch could be ready in less than two years

My comment:
(a) Quotation (a) explains why THAAD is often paired with Patriot missiles for layered protection against missiles.
(b) Please recall the "T" in THAAD is "Terminal" -- terminal phase.
(c) Quotation (b) conceded that BPI is untested as of now.

(d) AN/FPS-115 PAVE PAWS (such as the one US sold to Taiwan) and AN/TPY-2 (which paired with THAAD) -- especially the former -- are sensitive enough to track a rocket in boost phase.
(i) I wonder how US can protect a drone. North Korea or Iraq may not be able to shoot it down, but China has the capability.
(ii) North Korea does not have strategic depth 战略纵深, but China has. No missile (not just currently, but theoretically) can shoot down a Chinese missile launched inland -- the time for the former to reach the latteris longer than the time the latter reaches the space (and thus beyond BPI). That is why US tried laser which currently works for at most a hundred miles.

(e) Thus it is incomprehensible why China is so afraid of THAAD deployment in S Korea.