Army’s Guam-based THAAD missile defense system gains agility with remote-firing capab

[Boats]

Army’s Guam-based THAAD missile defense system gains agility with remote-firing capability
By: Wyatt Olson - Stars & Stripes - Asia-Pacific News - 03-12-22
Re: https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asi...a-5315367.html

Photo link: https://www.stripes.com/incoming/tb1...OTAphoto01.jpg
A launcher for a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile defense system is unloaded from an Air Force C-17 at Rota International Airport, March 4, 2022. (U.S. Army)

Although a comprehensive missile defense system for Guam remains a work in progress, the Army recently tested technology that makes its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system for the island nimbler and more versatile.

The 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command recently wrapped up Operation Talon Lightning, the first exercise to remotely operate a THAAD launcher in the Northern Mariana Islands, according to Capt. Nicholas Chopp, a spokesman for the Hawaii-based command.

The Army has operated a THAAD – consisting of a command-and-control center, radar array and interceptor launchers – from Andersen Air Force Base on Guam since 2013.

Earlier this month, an Air Force C-17 Globemaster III plane shuttled a THAAD launchers from Guam to Rota Island, about 55 miles to the north. It was equipped with new software designed for remote communication.

“The soldiers have been working since the month of January learning how to operate the new capability and learning how to configure a system in order to make this mission happen last week,” Maj. Juan F. Rivera, the future operations planner for the 94th, told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday.

No interceptor missiles were brought to Rota, Rivera said. The exercise, which ended March 7, tested only the capacity for the command center on Guam to communicate remotely with the crew of roughly 20 soldiers manning the launcher.

“I think we have achieved 100% mission success on demonstrating remote-launch capability,” he said.

The battery was able to communicate and essentially extend its ability beyond Guam to defend the Northern Marianas and Guam simultaneously, Rivera said.

“With this remote launch capability, the fire control officers can stay in Guam and fire missiles from other islands and other places in the second island chain,” he said.

About this writer: Wyatt Olson is based in the Honolulu bureau, where he has reported on military and security issues in the Indo-Pacific since 2014. He was Stars and Stripes’ roving Pacific reporter from 2011-2013 while based in Tokyo. He was a freelance writer and journalism teacher in China from 2006-2009.