WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is deploying a high-tech missile-defense arsenal in the Pacific in an effort to thwart any attempt by North Korea to launch a long-range missile toward Hawaii over the Fourth of July, officials said yesterday.
The military is setting up mobile missile interceptors in Hawaii and positioning sophisticated radar equipment off shore in a complex scheme that would position the military to take out any incoming missile.
“The ground-based interceptors are clearly in a position to take action,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this week. “So, without telegraphing what we will do, I would just say I think we are in a good position should it become necessary to protect American territory.”
Gates has told reporters there is a concern North Korea might launch a missile “in the direction of Hawaii.”
A Japanese Yomiuri Shinbun newspaper reported this week that North Korea might fire its most advanced ballistic missile, the Taepodong-2, toward Hawaii, Guam or Okinawa sometime around July 4.
The crackpot regime conducted nuclear tests in April and May and threatened war after the UN imposed sanctions in protest.
Gates ordered the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in Hawaii. The system is designed to shoot down an approaching missile on its way down.
The military was also putting into position a giant golf-ball-shaped radar unit that sits on an oil platform at sea. It was already in Hawaii.
Experts do not believe that North Korea has the capability of reaching Hawaii, more than 4,500 miles away.