Korean Reporters Visit THAAD Base On Guam and Find Environmental Concerns Unfounded

In regards to the political opposition to the THAAD deployment to South Korea facts do not matter.  We saw this before with the US beef protests.  For those that do care about facts, the US military yesterday opened its THAAD base on Guam to reporters and test the electromagnetic waves from the radar.  Here is what they found:

The United States disclosed its advanced anti-ballistic missile battery in Guam to South Korean media on Monday to help allay fears about the health risks linked to the system’s powerful X-band radar.

A pool of Korean reporters visited the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in northern Guam, a part of Andersen Air Force Base, so they could check for themselves the major issues related to the electromagnetic waves emanating from the AN/TPY-2 radar and the noise level of the emergency generators.

Using equipment brought from Seoul, military officials of both the U.S. and Korea measured the levels of electromagnetic waves from the THAAD radar for the first six minutes at a point 1.6 kilometers away from the THAAD unit after it was activated. The measurement conditions in Guam were set similarly to those in Seongju, the selected site for South Korea’s first THAAD.

The radar waves reached a maximum of 0.0007 watt per square meter, accounting for 0.007 percent of the 10 watts per square meter maximum permitted under Korean laws.

Robert F. Hedelund, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Korea, told reporters that the THAAD battery does not hurt the health and safety of the unit’s operators, soldiers or residents nearby and that the safety standards that apply to the Guam THAAD unit are higher than those recommended by the U.S. government. He said the Guam base’s safety standards will be applied to Korea’s THAAD battery.

Another U.S. military official on the U.S. Pacific territory said that as the U.S. has a duty to protect its own soldiers and residents in adjacent towns, every effort will be made to make sure the THAAD battery to be set up in Korea will be operated safely.

As for the noise level of generators near the THAAD radar, soldiers working at the site do have to wear earplugs, but the noise is no longer an issue at about 500 meters away, the commander explained.

The U.S. military said as Korea’s THAAD system will get its power mainly from the commercial grid, not from emergency generators, soldiers and residents will not be affected by the noise.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but like I said facts don’t matter to the political opposition so expect to continue to hear about the health and environmental risks of THAAD in South Korea.  However, this visit at least allows supporters of the deployment to have hard evidence to point to in order to counter claims from the political opposition.

With the environmental concerns floundering this how the Korea Times decided to approach the THAAD visit by insinuating that the system doesn’t work:

When the two allies announced the deployment of the advanced anti-missile defense system in Korea, July 8, they stressed that the deployment will greatly enhance Seoul’s ability to deal with North Korea’s evolving nuclear and ballistic missile threats. But some experts still question the capability of the system.

Lockheed Martin, the producer of THAAD, said that the battery was nearly 100 percent successful in interception tests, but critics claim that such tests took place under defined conditions, and that THAAD has been never utilized in practice.

In addition, skepticism over the system has been also raised as Seoul and its surrounding area, with a population of roughly 25 million and major facilities, are out of its coverage range. The missile interceptor has an effective range of 200 kilometers, while Seongju is located 290 kilometers southeast of Seoul.  [Korea Times]

Of course tests are under defined conditions which get increasingly more complicated.  The last flight test for THAAD featured it conducting a joint live fire with the Aegis SM-3 system and was successful in shooting down all targets.  As far as being used in combat this is an impossible argument to counter because the system is new and there has not been a need to use it in combat.  As far as defending Seoul there are already Patriot systems in Korea that can defend Seoul.  The THAAD has always been intended to defend areas in the southern region of the peninsula.

In the coming weeks it should be interesting to see if the opposition to THAAD tries to change their message to focus more on the China and the THAAD doesn’t work angles to justify their opposition.