Could Missile Defense Agency’s THAAD Destroy Hypersonic Missiles?

THAAD, Explained – Defending against incoming ballistic missiles requires a layered and integrated approach involving surveillance, air attack, and ultimately ground-fired interceptors.

THAAD: Protecting the Base

It is a complex, tactical challenge as forward operating bases, force concentrations, and ammunition and supply depots can all fall victim to ballistic missiles.

Defense is complex because, although missiles typically follow a predictable “parabola-” like trajectory, it can be tough to intercept in time, even if they are seen.

Naturally, the most dangerous ones are those with some kind of precision guidance, something not associated with Iraq’s Scud missiles fired during the Gulf War which helped inspire the creation of THAAD, or Terminal High Altitude Area Defense.

THAAD is a ground-launched missile battery that can target and intercept attacking missiles by tracking the missile’s flight path and shooting a kinetic energy interceptor, which by virtue of its sheer speed and force, can disable or destroy an incoming missile without needing an explosive.

Kinetic Trajectory

It’s called a Hit-to-Kill approach, wherein the force of a collision achieves the desired battlefield effect without using a warhead. THAAD conducts intercepts through what is known as the terminal phase of flight, meaning a portion of an incoming missile’s trajectory wherein it re-enters the earth’s atmosphere or simply descends onto its targets from lower altitudes. Of course, many ballistic missiles’ flight path remains purely within the boundaries of the earth’s atmosphere, certain weapons such as an ICBM descend back into the earth’s atmosphere from space where it transits what’s referred to as the mid-course phase.

The boundary of the earth’s atmosphere is roughly 60 miles above the surface of the earth, so THAAD’s range of 120 miles and a flight ceiling of 93 miles make it optimal for tracking and destroying missiles as they re-enter the earth’s atmosphere from space.

THAAD began in 2008 as an Army program and has since transitioned to the Missile Defense Agency and now defends Israel, Romania, United Arab Emirates, and South Korea.