USFK Announces It Has Installed New Equipment That Allows Integration of THAAD and Patriot Batteries

This is an important upgrade that allows the Patriot firing batteries spread across South Korea to use tracking data provided by the much more powerful THAAD radar to better intercept North Korean missiles:

U.S. Forces Korea has delivered equipment that will add functionality to a missile-defense system stationed on the peninsula and better “protect the South Korean people from North Korea’s missile threats,” according to a statement from the Ministry of National Defense on Friday. 

The new equipment will provide “better performance” for the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system by “improving interoperability” between it and the United States’ Patriot missile system, the statement said.

Interoperability is a term often used by the military to describe the ability of a country’s armed forces to use another country’s training methods and equipment. 

Another THAAD system was not delivered as part of the package, the ministry added. The new equipment will replace parts in the existing system, and the older equipment will be returned to the United States. 

South Korea’s alliance with the U.S. is more prepared to respond to the North’s “advanced nuclear and missile threats” because of the THAAD upgrade, the Eighth Army’s deputy commander, Gen. Mark Holler, said in the statement. THAAD is defensive system that will not “interfere with strategic and security interests of neighbor countries,” he added. 

U.S. missile defense agencies have worked toward integrating the Patriot and THAAD systems for at least two years. Multiple tests in 2020 attempted to provide THAAD-generated tracking data on a simulated target to a Patriot system, which would then intercept the target.

Stars & Stripes

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