Text fwd: Pentagon Practices For War On Korean Peninsula

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http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2902232
JoongAng Ilbo
March 14, 2009

Inside missile-hunting U.S. warship
‘The North Korean missile was cut to pieces and the operation ended within 3
minutes’
Kim Min-seok

-U.S. destroyers loaded with missiles capable of intercepting enemy missiles -
or rockets - joined the drill. Among them is the 9,200-ton Aegis-guided USS
Chefee and the nuclear-powered 97,000 t-class aircraft carrier John C. Stennis
and a nuclear-powered attack submarine.

-The destroyer is also capable of loading 96 missiles on its vertical launch
systems. SM-3s, capable of intercepting a ballistic missile, are on board, along
with 20 Tomahawk cruise missiles, capable of a surgical strike against North
Korean buildings.

USS Chafee - “Kill! Track one, two, three, four!”

The air was thick with tension inside the combat information center of the USS
Chafee on Thursday as the war game began.

After North Korea launched a theoretical Taepodong-2 missile from its base in
Musudan-ri, the crew aboard the Aegis destroyer got busy. Inside the combat
information center, the train of the warship, the operation quickly began to
identify the object on the radar.

An officer in charge of the radar reported to the captain of the ship that the
object was an enemy ballistic missile, citing information provided by the
military intelligence network. U.S. Lieutenant Commander Choi Hee-dong, captain
of the USS Chafee immediately ordered an intercept. Chafee’s computer tracked
the location of the missile and two SM-3 missiles were fired one after another.
The interceptors soared from the launch pad on the front deck and destroyed the
Taepodong-2 about 200 kilometers (124.27 miles) above ground.

The North Korean missile was cut to pieces and the operation ended within about
three minutes.

[A]bout 26,000 American troops are participating in a joint military exercise
with South Korea. Of the forces, 12,000 are U.S. troops stationed in the South,
while the rest were deployed for the drill from overseas.

U.S. destroyers loaded with missiles capable of intercepting enemy missiles - or
rockets - joined the drill. Among them is the 9,200-ton Aegis-guided USS Chefee
and the nuclear-powered 97,000 t-class aircraft carrier John C. Stennis and a
nuclear-powered attack submarine.

USS Chafee is one of the two Aegis-class destroyers that arrived Korea for the
ongoing U.S.-South Korean joint military exercise. The U.S. military allowed the
JoongAng Ilbo, the JoongAng Daily’s sister paper, to join the drill on
Thursday by boarding the ship and watching the operation from the combat
information center.

The USS Chafee, deployed in 2003, is one of the newer Aegis U.S. Navy
destroyers. The $1.2 billion ship is capable of detecting and tracing a flying
object in a 1,000-kilometer range. The phased array radar system would allow the
ship to locate a North Korean missile in real time.

The destroyer is also capable of loading 96 missiles on its vertical launch
systems. SM-3s, capable of intercepting a ballistic missile, are on board, along
with 20 Tomahawk cruise missiles, capable of a surgical strike against North
Korean buildings.
....
While the USS Chafee is normally a part of the U.S. Third Fleet, the ship was
deployed for the Seventh Fleet, which supports Korea, for five months starting
with the joint drill. The destroyer will stay in the waters near the Korean
Peninsula for the next two weeks, Commander Choi said.

If North Korea stages an armed provocation during the Key Resolve exercises,
scheduled from last Monday to March 20, the USS Chafee’s mission will see some
changes, Commander Choi said.

Born in Incheon in 1968, Commander Choi moved to the United States when he was a
third grader in middle school. He is the first Korean-American caption of an
Aegis destroyer of the U.S. Navy and a veteran of ballistic missile
interception.

Before becoming the captain of USS Chafee, Choi used to work for the chief arms
officer for USS Shiloh, an Aegis-guided missile cruiser that conducted the U.S.
Navy’s first experiment with the SM-3s.
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