South Korea to Buy State-of-the-Art Interceptor Missiles from U.S.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff are following a Navy recommendation to buy American-made SM-3 interceptor missiles for Aegis ships.

The SM-3 missile is capable of intercepting an incoming enemy ballistic missile at an altitude of 150 km, much higher than the ground-based PAC-3 missiles now in use.

The Navy recommended the purchase because the new PAC-3 system has a high failure rate because it leaves only 5 to 7 seconds to intercept North Korea's Scud or Rodong missiles.

A government source said the SM-3 missiles can be deployed on the Aegis ships like the Sejong the Great once the Navy's software is upgraded.

South Korea has only an improved version of the Patriot PAC-2 missile and has been eyeing a better version, the PAC-3.

One SM-3 missile costs W15 billion (US$1=W1,104), seven times as much as the PAC-3. SM-3s are a key component of the U.S. missile defense system, but experts question whether they would be suitable against North Korean missiles, which fly at a low altitude over short ranges.

During a visit to South Korea, China, and Japan recently, Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "Now is the right time, with the right capabilities in place, to seek to establish a collaborative, trilateral ballistic missile defense architecture incorporating U.S., Japanese and South Korean military assets."

He also proposed that "senior military officers of all three countries advise their political leaders to integrate air and missile defense systems."

This spawned speculation that the U.S. is trying to deploy its own SM-3 missiles in South Korea following their deployment on the U.S. mainland and in Japan.

South Korea is pushing for its own defense system against ballistic missile attacks from the North rather than joining the U.S. shield.

"There are some historic sensitivities," Dempsey said, referring to suspicions in South Korea and China against Japan over its past aggression. But he added, "All three nations should be mature enough to set aside their differences and focus on the common, prolonged threat of ballistic missiles from Pyongyang."

PAC-2 Missiles Flunk Intercept Test

South Korea's PAC-2 ballistic missiles have an intercept rate of less than 40 percent, according to joint South Korean-U.S. research released Sunday. The military is looking at buying PAC-3 missiles from the U.S. to make up for the deficiency.

The PAC-2 missile was developed as an anti-aircraft missile in the U.S. in 1990. It can approach targets at an altitude lower than 15 km and destroy them by detonating sub-missiles. Its poor accuracy has been a source of grief since the first Gulf War in 1991.

An upgraded version of the PAC-2 which South Korea bought is also incapable of perfectly destroying the warhead of an incoming missile, a Defense Ministry official admitted.

The PAC-3

Unlike the PAC-2, the PAC-3 is a "hit-to-kill" interceptor capable of striking an incoming missile at altitudes of up to 30 km. It supposedly causes no damage on the ground since it destroys the payload high up in the air.

Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin told reporters after the recent Seoul-Washington Security Consultative Meeting that a PAC-3 system is in the pipeline.

The plan could cause controversy since it could technically mean that South Korea falls under the U.S. missile defense shield, which it has been trying to stay out of for fear of annoying neighbors like China.

"We need to join part of the U.S.' command, control, communications, computers and information system to share U.S. intelligence on North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles," a government official said. "Sharing information or introducing the PAC-3 doesn't necessarily mean joining the U.S. missile defense system."

Then there is the cost. It reportedly cost the military about W1 trillion (US$1=W1,097) to buy 48 second-hand PAC-2 missiles from Germany since 2008, and at least W3 trillion would be needed to build a similar system with PAC-3 missiles.

Meanwhile, some experts suspect that Washington pressured Seoul to buy PAC-3 missiles in return for allowing it to extend its missile range from 300 km to 800 km in a recent agreement.