THAAD: Reach Out and Touch Ballistic Missiles (updated)
Related Stories: ABM, Americas - USA, BAE, Boeing, Contracts - Awards, FOCUS Articles, Lockheed Martin, New Systems Tech, R&D - Contracted, Raytheon
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The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system is a long-range, land-based theater defense weapon that acts as the upper tier of a basic 2-tiered defense against ballistic missiles. It’s designed to intercept missiles during late mid-course or final stage flight, flying at high altitudes within and even outside the atmosphere. This allows it to provide broad area coverage against threats to critical assets such as population centers and industrial resources as well as military forces, hence its previous “theater (of operations) high altitude area defense” designation.
This capability makes THAAD different from a Patriot PAC-3 or the future MEADS system, which are point defense options with limited range that are designed to hit a missile or warhead just before impact. The SM-3 Standard missile is a far better comparison, but the SM-3 is a naval counterpart and could offer positioning advantages or disadvantages depending on the area to be defended. An ideal multi-layered anti-ballistic missile system should have both land and naval options, as well as theater-level and point defenses backed by a 3rd tier of longer ranged midcourse-defense missiles (q.v. GBI) and/or space-based weapons that can hit the missile during its boost phase.
This is DID’s FOCUS article covering the THAAD system, and newer items will be indicated in green type as a reader convenience. The latest news involves potential changes to THAAD that could make it much more competitive with Raytheon’s new land-based SM-3 offering…
- The THAAD System: Further Details (i.e. “Continue reading…”) [updated]
- The THAAD Program
- Contracts and Key Events [updated]
- Additional Readings & Sources
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- The THAAD system, its components, and estimated performance;
- Major industrial participants;
- THAAD program plans and testing;
- Tracking of USD billions in contracts and orders, including export requests;
- Numerous photos and illustrations;
- Additional research resources
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