[Blue Highway]

yes, it was a test missile to show the NK dope that the THAD system will work to thwart any nuclear missile they try to target us with.

[wbarmy]

yes, it was a test missile to show the NK dope that the THAD system will work to thwart any nuclear missile they try to target us with.

Which is a very good thing and one I wholeheartedly support.

[arthurus]

This was a follow on, no doubt, to permitting the Nork ICBM to fly unhindered.

[lacrew]

I have a crazy theory:

First, a society that still uses hammers to turn rocks into gravel is not capable of developing an ICBM.

So, somebody...China and/or Russia is helping the Norks make these weapons.

Why? They want to know what our capabilities are...what are RADARs and who knows what else on the Aleutian islands can do, how quickly they can id a missile, track it, and ultimately attempt to destroy it.

I presume our military will not use its full capabilities against these 'demonstration' launches...so we do our own 'demonstration' launch and counterbattery instead.

Part 1 of this still nags at me though...are our good buddies the Russians helping the Norks? I remember in the early years of Iraq, our tanks were getting destroyed by a Russian made ATGM, that was invented AFTER international sanctions were imposed against Saddam. Yet somehow, our pals the Russians had managed to accidentally export their top of the line missile to our most likely adversary...and gather valuable test data on it. I'm starting to not trust those ex-Soviets.

[PreciousLiberty]

“yes, it was a test missile to show the NK dope that the THAD system will work to thwart any nuclear missile they try to target us with.”

This wasn’t THAAD, which can’t intercept ICBMs. This was GMD. It’s good to see that this $40 billion system actually works some of the time...