Mobile Launch Capability News Today

The intercontinental ballistic missiles are the a.b.a. system. were not there yet. the technology isnt there. calculations so fast. its like a bullet hitting a bullet. we feel confident in our ability to defend south korea and japan using the t.h.a.d. system. once you get beyond that, then the numbers dont look very good at all. if you look at the missile tests, the antiballistic missile tests its about i think half of the tests are successful and they arent. half is not good enough. talking lau...

U.s. decision cycle down to almost nothing. everybody was hoping that these two technologies of the north koreans worked on, the missile technology, we could observe closely. we gather information on the capability. more difficult, assess the capability to develop this miniaturized nuclear warhead, which is the second piece of it. when you marry those two technologies, then you have a real capability. it appears that if this is true, the north koreans have achieved that capability. whereas, we t...

Nuclear weapons. immediately going to our pentagon correspondent barbara starr. barbara, this would be a major, major breakthrough in north koreas nuclear capability if they had miniaturized these nuclear bombs so they could fit on these intercontinental ballistic missiles? >> reporter: that is absolutely right, wolf. the "washington post" reporting a short time ago, and let me quote from them -- north korea "has successfully produce add miniaturized nuclear warhead that can fit inside its missi...

Is true, it seems like the north korean military kim jong-uns regime moved very, very quickly to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile with a miniaturized nuclear warhead and may already have according to the "washington post" as many as 60 nuclear bombs? >> yes, wolf. lets make a couple of assumptions here. number one, that the report is accurate. that the number of weapons that they have is accurate as well. but also bear in mind that # these estimates are essentially that. that they a...

Thats required to protect that nuclear warhead and when it reenters. you know, and the north koreans are good engineers. theyll figure this out. so i think we would be foolish to underestimate them. and i think weve all been taken a little by surprise been how fast and how effective this program has been, and i do agree with cedric, that no matter what we promise the north koreans, theyre not going to give up this program. this is their ace in the hole. this is their deterrent capability. this m...

Imminence of an attack by north korea that much higher, because it now has a capability. not just an intention to use something that might be in development, but we have to assume that its accurate. that the report is accurate. that they have a capability and that now the united states has a full array of options it has to be able to use, and it raises the spectrum of a potential conflict. everybody on the peninsula has been preparing for this kind of engagement for quite some time and so there ...

Icbm capability. they have short-range missiles, plenty of those. they have been miniaturizing their nukes. whether they have 20, some estimates, whether they have 60, they have miniaturized nukes. north korea is a nuclear power. they are now getting closer and closer, if not have already embraced and realized a capability of launching a nuke from sites in north korea that could potentially hit the united states and certainly have always been able to hit the southern portion of the peninsula. th...

Government of seoul, have a very strong relationship there. we have, you indicated, 28,000-plus troops south of the dmz. assigned to south korea. we have family members that are there. so this suffering that will take place is real, and its potentially imminent, and it has been for years and years. you realize, of course, that deployment of forces on to korea has always lived under that, that requirement to fight tonight. this now has been ratcheted up, the he level of concern because this capab...

Homicidal but not suicidal. if he were to launch or completely ignore any external end fretreaties in terms how th might try to embrace having a nuclear north korea, but wracked in protocols being a part of that. it hes not a place in to that he becomes suicidal. >> rick francona, weve seen at least two intercontinental ballistic missile tests launched by north korea with capability to hit los angeles, maybe chicago, elsewhere in the continental united states. but there are some anti-missile sys...

That the u.s. intelligence community now assesses that north korea has produced nuclear weapons for ballistic missile delivery to include delivery of these icbm-class missiles. are you surprised? how dangerous is this situation right now? >> im not terribly surprised. i think we americans tend to underestimate the capability and intelligence of people in other countries. were a bit arrogant, at least on the margin. second, i think its noteworthy that china is stepping up its role as a potential ...