Pentagon plans to deploy new mobile missile defence system on Guam island

WORLD  27 June 2023 - 14:55

The US Armed Forces intend to deploy a new missile defense system on the Pacific island of Guam, based on the use of mobile radars and launchers, which are now used on Navy ships.

The AN/TPY-6 mobile radars should provide full tracking of the airspace around Guam, without leaving dead zones in it, TASS reports, citing the Japanese newspaper Sankei.

The newspaper, citing sources in the Pentagon, writes that they are an upgraded version of the installations already used on US Navy warships equipped with the Aegis tracking and guidance system. New mobile missile defense installations will also be deployed on the island. It is also an upgraded version of the Aegis Ashore ground-based anti-missile systems already used by the United States.

Preparatory work for their deployment will begin in 2024, and the combat deployment of a new mobile missile defense system is planned for 2029, according to Sankei.

According to the Pentagon, this should qualitatively strengthen the missile defense system on the island of Guam, where the bases of strategic bombers and nuclear submarines are located, holding at gunpoint vast areas of East Asia and the Pacific basin. Recently, the newspaper notes, China and North Korea have made significant progress in developing missiles capable of threatening these important facilities.

Currently, THAAD missile defense installations are deployed in Guam. They are designed to intercept ballistic missiles at a high point in the final stage of their flight outside the atmosphere. This system has a longer range than the Patriot PAC-3 missile defence systems widely used by the armed forces of the United States and Japan.

Caliber.Az