In stark contrast to the MDA, however, the Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation, a Washington-based nongovernmental organization of military experts, expressed doubt over whether the United States was actually prepared to intercept a North Korean ICBM, citing the country’s checkered history.
“Unfortunately, the $40 billion system’s successful testing record now stands at just 40 percent since it was declared operational in 2004, despite all tests being highly scripted for success,” the center said in a statement.
Philip E. Coyle, a senior science fellow at the center who formerly headed the Pentagon’s Office of Operational Test and Evaluation, said the Ground-based Midcourse Defense program had “a long way to go,” saying “40 percent isn’t a passing grade.”
Coyle also noted, “The mock enemy target was only barely of ICBM range and slower than an ICBM from North Korea to Los Angeles,” adding, “The closing velocity, the closure rate between the target and the interceptor also was slower than an intercept would be between a North Korean ICBM and a U.S. interceptor.”
