LoudMcCloud
Member
- Mar 22, 2013
- 787
- 40
- 16
I doubt it. But, still it is a possible scenario. The media is sure playing along. You cant trust your own mind these days. Just your heart.
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Could North Korea hit US military bases in the Pacific region with missiles? The question arises because Pyongyang on Thursday threatened to do just that in retaliation for ongoing US-South Korea military training missions. North Korea appears particularly unhappy about the participation of nuclear-capable B-52 bombers in these exercises. Washington dispatched these aircraft at a time of tension in the region to emphasize that the US remains committed to South Koreas defense. The US should not forget that the Anderson Air Force Base on Guam, where B-52s take off, and naval bases in Japan proper and Okinawa, where nuclear-powered submarines are launched, are within the striking range of [North Koreas] precision strike means, a North Korean military spokesman told the KCNA state-run news service.
Is this within the realm of the possible? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is yes, probably, they could try, but were not sure they could actually hit those targets, or with what, and they would be very foolish to attempt it. First, lets look at the distances. Japan, home to about 38,000 US military personnel, is only about 650 miles from North Korea not a very long flight. Guam, an island south of Japan and east of the Philippines, is much father at about 2,100 miles distance. (There are also upwards of 28,000 US servicemen and women based in South Korea itself.)
A South Korean sea-to-land cruise missile is fired from a submarine during a drill at an undisclosed location in South Korea, last month. North Korea on Thursday threatened to hit US military bases in the Pacific region with missiles in retaliation for ongoing US-South Korea military training missions.
Japan is clearly within range of North Korean missile forces. Pyongyangs medium-range Nodong 1, a single-stage liquid-propelled weapon based on Soviet Scud technology, could reach targets across the Japanese archipelago, according to an International Institute for Strategic Studies overview of North Koreas missile program. But the Nodong is not exactly a precision strike instrument, according to US analysts. Its accurate only to within about two or three miles. Given its relatively small payload and the limited number North Korea has at its disposal, the Nodong is probably more a political weapon than an effective military instrument, the IISS concludes.
At 2,100 miles distance, Guam would be an even tougher target. Its outside the range of Nodongs, but might be targeted by North Koreas multi-stage intermediate range ballistic missile, the Taepodong, which has a 2,000-plus-mile range. But as a 2012 Congressional Research Service study of Guams military defense notes, there has been a question about whether North Korea deployed this IRBM. The Taepodong has been flight tested but once, and failed. South Korea in 2008 said the North had indeed deployed the weapon, but since then Pyongyang has shown yet another alleged medium-range missile, the Musudan, in a military parade.
MORE