THAAD is alos showing great potential for intercepting ICBM’S!!!!!

THAAD, whose prime contractor is Lockheed Martin, is mainly designed to intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missiles as they transition from the midcourse phase of flight to the terminal phase, but Driessnack indicated a year ago that the system also would be capable against longer-range targets, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (DAILY, Aug. 20, 2004).

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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – U.S. missile defense developers have discovered that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, designed to destroy short- and medium-range ballistic missiles in their final stages of flight, will also be capable of shooting down longer-range targets.

At the seventh annual space and missile defense conference here, Army Col. Charles Driessnack, THAAD’s program manager, said in a speech late Aug. 18 and at a press briefing Aug. 19 that recent tests of the system’s Raytheon-built radar have shown that THAAD will have a “residual” capability against intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

“We weren’t planning to have the ICBM capability,” but the radar is “outperforming what we thought it was supposed to do,” Driessnack said.

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