A Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system arrives at Osan Air Base, South Korea, March 6, 2017. (U.S. Air Force)
The U.S. military has not moved an advanced air defense system off the Korean Peninsula, the commander of U.S. forces there told a Senate committee this week.
Last month, the Washington Post, quoting unnamed officials, reported that the Pentagon was moving parts of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system from South Korea to the Middle East.
The report prompted a statement by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung opposing the removal of U.S. air defense systems from his country, although he said doing so would not significantly affect Seoul’s ability to deter Pyongyang.
The U.S. was rushing to replace a THAAD radar — critical for shooting down ballistic missiles — damaged in an Iranian-backed drone strike in Jordan, according to an unnamed U.S. official quoted March 6 by the Wall Street Journal.
However, Army Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, on Tuesday told the Senate Armed Services Committee that THAAD, capable of high-altitude interception of ballistic missiles, never left the peninsula.
South Korea considered the U.S. THAAD battery deployed in 2017 in Seongju as part of its “enhanced defense” against North Korean missile threats, according a joint statement at the time.
“We’ve not moved any THAAD systems, so THAAD still remains on the peninsula currently, but we are sending munitions forward, and those are sitting right now waiting to move,” Brunson said, according to a video of his testimony released by the committee.
“I was dynamically moving those around, so that I could then sequence them into Osan Air Base to prepare them to move the munitions and that caused a big kerfluffle on the peninsula,” he said, referring to the home of the U.S. 7th Air Force and 51st Fighter Wing about 40 miles south of Seoul.
In previous moves, radars were taken off the peninsula, Brunson said, without specifying their types.
“This was in advance of Midnight Hammer,” he said of strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June.
Some of those have not yet returned to South Korea, but the THAAD systems remain on the peninsula, Brunson said.
A spokesman for South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense declined Wednesday to comment on Bruson’s remarks. South Korean officials customarily speak to the media on condition of anonymity.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command elements have played an indispensable role in the Iran conflict, its commander, Adm. Samuel Paparo, told the committee, according to a transcript of his statement.
“This operation is forging a more lethal and experienced joint force,” he said. “INDOPACOM forces will return to the Indo-Pacific better trained and more capable for any future conflict.”
There’s no substitute for the combat experience, he told the committee, according to the video, adding: “It’s an advantage our would-be adversaries do not have.”
