Last Thursday, an explosion off the coast of northern Russia released radiation and is suspected to be caused by the testing of a new type of nuclear-propelled cruise missile hailed by President Vladimir V. Putin as the centerpiece of Moscow’s arms race with the United States. Five scientists were killed in the explosion and there are still few other details on the incident.
On Saturday, North Korea fired two new SRBMs off its east coast. Their flight distances varied from around 240 to 600 km, with maximum altitudes ranging from 37 to 50 km. The missiles, fired from a caterpillar-type transporter erector launcher (TEL), bear some outward similarities to the U.S.' Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), a surface-to-surface missile system.
On Tuesday, Michael D. Griffin, Under Secretary of Defense for research and engineering, spoke at the Hudson Institute about the complexity of the hypersonic threat. "It touches space, it touches ground stations, it touches detection and tracking algorithms, and fire control algorithms," the Under Secretary said. "Dealing with the hypersonic threat is even more of an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary problem than ground missile defense was."
Also on Tuesday, the Department of Defense announced its contract to purchase two Iron Dome systems for the U.S. Army. The systems are needed to fill the Army’s capability gap for cruise missile defense on an interim basis. Iron Dome has a proven combat record in Israel having intercepted more than 1,500 targets at a 90 percent success rate.
Additionally on Tuesday, Bahrain signed an agreement to purchase an undisclosed number of Patriot missile defense systems. Earlier in May, the U.S. Department of State approved Bahrain’s procurement of the Patriot system at an estimated cost of $2.478 billion. The approval includes 60 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement missiles, 36 Patriot MIM-104E Guidance Enhanced Missiles (GEM-T) , nine M903 Launching Stations, and other components, tools and test equipment.
On Thursday, South Korea announced its defense budget would prioritize boosting its missile defense shield in response to North Korea’s evolving missile capability. South Korea plans to acquire two more ground-based anti-missile early warning radars and three more Aegis-equipped destroyers.
Also on Thursday, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency director, Vice Admiral Jon Hill, was reported to have been opposed to the transfer of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, or THAAD, to the Army. The Senate version of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) is pushing for this measure. VADM Hill cites that THAAD could be underfunded in the Army by more pressing priorities and modernization efforts in the service.
On Friday, North Korea fired two short-range projectiles into the East Sea, South Korea's military said, the sixth such round of launches in about three weeks. The two projectiles were launched at around 8:01 and 8:16 A.M. local time and both flew around 230 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 30 km and a top speed of around Mach 6.1, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Click here to read all of the headlines from the week.
