The US Army has successfully transferred the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery from the 11th Air Defense Artillery (ADA) Brigade in Fort Bliss, Texas, to the 35th ADA Brigade in South Korea.
The D-2 battery’s deployment to South Korea has been carried out as a THAAD Global Response Force mission amid growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
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It consists of four main components, including a launcher, interceptors, radar and fire control.
A total of eight interceptors can be fired from the truck-mounted and highly-mobile launcher.
The army navy / transportable radar surveillance (AN / TPY-2) is an air-transportable X-band radar, which has the ability to search, track, and discriminate between objects and can provide updated tracking data to the interceptor.
The fire control is noted to be a communication and data-management backbone system that links THAAD components together. It is also able to link THAAD to various external command and control nodes.
Commenting on the THAAD battery realignment, 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade commander colonel Rick Wright said: “Today marks a significant day for the air defence community, the US Army, and the proud and peaceful nation of the Republic of Korea.”
THAAD uses hit-to-kill technology to intercept and destroy ballistic missiles either inside or outside the atmosphere during their final, or terminal, phase of flight.
The high-altitude intercept helps to mitigate the effects of enemy weapons of mass destruction before they reach the ground.
