By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON- The top general at the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency says he wants to address the theoretical threat of short-range ballistic missiles coming from ships off the U.S. coast.
Lt. Gen. Henry A. “Trey” Obering told reporters Thursday that some U.S. enemy could conceivably sneak a Scud or similar missile to within a few hundred miles of the American coastline before launching it.
Obering, in charge of the military’s effort to develop a defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles, said his agency plans to study ways to defend against short-range threats.
“I’m concerned about that,” he said.
Agency spokesman Rick Lehner said $20 million is in next year’s defense budget to study the threat.
He said he didn’t know of any intelligence suggesting any terrorist group or hostile country was considering such an attack.
“It’s more of a theoretical threat based on the proliferation of Scud-type missiles that are out there around the world,” Lehner said.
Scuds can have ranges up to about 300 miles.
The military has defenses capable of shooting down short-range ballistic missiles, including the latest version of the Patriot missile. But batteries of such missiles would have to be arrayed along American coastlines to provide round-the-clock defenses.
Lehner said such a plan is not under consideration.
Still, the Pentagon is upgrading radars in Massachusetts, Alaska and Florida that will better enable them to detect a short-range ballistic missile launch.
The national missile defense system, which has interceptors based in Alaska and California intended to defend against an attack from North Korea, is not designed to defend against short-range ballistic missile threats like Scuds, Lehner said.