U.S. missile defenses are prepared to try to shoot down the last stage of a Taepodong-2 missile that North Korea is expected to soon fire off, should sensors detect the weapon heading for U.S. territory, the commander of the U.S. Northern Command said on Friday.
“The nation has a very, very credible ballistic-missile defense capability. Our ground-based interceptors in Alaska and California, I’m very comfortable, give me a capability that if we really are threatened by a long-range ICBM that I’ve got high confidence that I could interdict that flight before it caused huge damage to any U.S. territory,” said Air Force Gen. Victor E. “Gene” Renuart, Northcom commander.
The general said that the U.S. will not activate its missile defenses if the North Korean missile appears it will fall safely into the ocean as the country’s last test missile did.
When asked if North Korea was likely to conduct a July 4 Taepodong-2 test, as the country did back in 2006, General Renuart said “I think we ought to assume there might be one on the first of July and continue to be prepared and ready.”
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