US Missile Systems Not Accurately Tested Against Real Threats

In a report, Reuters cited defense experts as saying that the purportedly successful tests that the Pentagon conducted earlier do not accurately simulate the real wartime conditions, despite spending $40 billion over research and development within a period of 18 years.

The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) in late May conducted 10 successful tests out of 18 attempts of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system. The GMD is a network of radars, anti-ballistic missiles and other equipment aimed at protecting the US from intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

While the GMD tests took place in daytime to intercept a single missile, experts believe the conditions do not match scenarios for possible missile attacks from North Korea.

In an interview with Reuters, Riki Ellison, the chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, stressed that the GMD needs more strenuous tests against threats such as multiple warheads that use devices to confuse missile defense systems.

Physicist Laura Grego, who studies missile defense at the Union of Concerned Scientists, also announced that the publicly available data cannot confirm the Pentagon's assessment that the GMD worked effectively under realistic testing conditions.

The latest test failed to consider the possibility of Pyongyang using complex countermeasures and decoys to confuse the anti-ballistic missile's "kill vehicle."

Kill vehicle pops off the top of the defending missile above the earth's atmosphere and tracks and destroys the warhead of the attacking missile.

Decoys and countermeasures confuse the kill vehicle to make it target the wrong object and allow the real warhead pass toward its objective.

The Pentagon plans to conduct the next GMT test in 2018 which aims to intercept multiple inbound warheads, instead of a single one.

The debates over the effectiveness of the US missile system come against the backdrop of an exchange of threats between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Tensions over North Korea escalated after Pyongyang twice successfully tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of targeting the US mainland.

US President Donald Trump issued another warning to North Korea on Friday with a reference to American weapons as being "locked and loaded."

 "Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!" Trump wrote on Twitter, a day after his defense secretary stressed that the United States was ready to counter any threat from Pyongyang, Reuters reported.

US President has also warned North Korea to expect "big, big trouble" if anything happens to the US territory of Guam, according to BBC.

Speaking at his Bedminister, New Jersey golf resort, he promised the territory would be "very safe, believe me".

Trump stressed that the US could impose further sanctions, "as strong as they get", on North Korea.

A day earlier, Trump issued another apocalyptic warning to North Korea, saying his previous threat to hit the country with American "fire and fury" maybe "wasn't tough enough."

During a lengthy exchange with reporters at his golf club in New Jersey on Thursday, Trump said, "It’s about time someone stood up for the people of our country.”

Responding to North Korea's rejection of his warning as "nonsense," Trump added that "maybe it wasn't tough enough."

"They've been doing this to our country for a long time, many years," he said, adding that "It's about time that somebody stuck up for the people of this country and for the people of other countries. So if anything, maybe that statement wasn't tough enough."

Trump told reporters that they will see what is "tougher" than "fire and fury.”

North Korea on Thursday announced a detailed plan to launch a volley of ballistic missiles toward the US Pacific territory of Guam, a major military hub and home to US bombers, and dismissed President Trump’s threats of "fire and fury” if it doesn’t back down.

US President added fuel to the fire on Tuesday, cautioning North Korea against making any more threats to the US.

But, North Korea said it is "carefully examining" a plan to strike the American Pacific territory of Guam with missiles, after US President threatened to hit the country "with fire and fury.”

A Spokesman for the Korean People's Army announced that the strike plan will be "put into practice in a multi-current and consecutive way any moment" once North Korean leader Kim Jong-un decided about it, the North's state-run KCNA news agency reported.

The North Korean military added in a separate statement that it could carry out a pre-emptive strike if there were signs of an American provocation.

 North Korea has recently announced that it is ready to teach the United States a "severe lesson" with its strategic nuclear force if Washington dares opt for military action against Pyongyang.

It comes after the UN Security Council passed a resolution slapping sweeping sanctions on the North over its first test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile.

North Korea announced late July that Pyongyang had conducted another successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that proved its ability to strike all of America's mainland, stressing that the test was meant to remind the US that it should "wake up from the foolish dream of doing any harm” to the country.

North Korea had also announced early July that Pyongyang has successfully test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile, which is capable of hitting anywhere in the world.

The White House also annonced early August that US President has reluctantly signed into law a bill by Congress that imposes new sanctions against Russia, Iran and North Korea.