The U.S. military has floated the possibility of stationing a new missile defense system in Germany that would have the capability of protecting Europe from both Russia and Iran, according to reports.
U.S. adversaries consider the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system threatening, and its deployment will likely rile Moscow, which has long opposed the stationing of missile defense systems in Europe.
The U.S. military has been testing the THAAD system for the past decade, making it a relatively new addition to the its missile defense arsenal. The company Lockheed Martin also has been testing the THAAD system in recent years, in Hawaii, and found that the system was highly capable of intercepting ballistic missiles like the kind that could be launched by Iran, Russia and North Korea.
“Two THAAD interceptors and a Standard-Missile 3 Block IA missile were launched resulting in the intercept of two near-simultaneous medium-range ballistic missile targets. The test, designated Flight Test Operational-01 (FTO-01), demonstrated the ability of the Aegis BMD and THAAD weapon systems to function in a layered defense architecture,” the company said in a statement following a test in 2013.
