HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — While site assessments are still being conducted by the Missile Defense Agency as to what Department of Defense-controlled properties are suitable to house facilities that support a “360-degree” missile defense program for the island, any live-fire component would likely be away from populated areas.
Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson, commander of Joint Region Marianas shared some of the evaluations and considerations that are made during these property assessments during a media conference Tuesday.
“I think there was a little confusion about what it means to have a missile defense system here on Guam,” he told reporters.
In an ideal scenario, Guam’s new missile defense infrastructure would exist in a single location, with at least four separate radars emitting arcs to completely cover a 360-degree area.
Because of the island’s small size, and existing sites for Guam’s civilian airport and other considerations, that isn’t practical, Nicholson said. Instead, the MDA is evaluating 18 to 20 sites around the island that can house different parts of the overall defense system, including behind Eagles Field.
“A missile defense system can’t just go in one location. We have to spread the pieces out. So each one of the pieces are in different places,” he said.
A particular location may only be suitable for a radar system and not intercept missiles, while another may be able to house multiple components, especially if it is away from populated areas.
“There’s some components that potentially have zero impacts to their surrounding communities. (Like) a command and control center, and it has some communications (equipment).… There’s some, if there’s a radar that if you’re really close to it, it has an impact to you, and if you’re far enough away, it may not,” Nicholson said.
Some of the locations being eyed — all of which are currently in the DOD inventory — include property on Nimitz Hill, Piti and Dandan, Inalåhan.
‘Drop zone’ away from homes
The live-fire component of a 360-degree missile defense system would be away from residential areas, with intercept missiles typically being located near coastlines, Nicholson said.
“One of the things we look at is called the booster drop zone. When the missile initially takes off, its initial propellant in the booster phase to really get it going — at some point that’s going to fall off,” he said, comparing the fallout to components of space shuttles that break away during liftoff. “Obviously, we don’t want that to fall off in a residential neighborhood or anything like that. So those live-fire components, the missiles, generally they’re going to be placed far away from residential areas.”
The parts of the intercept missiles that break off during flight “ideally” fall into the ocean, according to the admiral.
When asked whether additional live-fire would result in additional restriction of movement in local waters, similar to closures of surface danger zones related to active use of weapons at training ranges, Nicholson said any intercept missiles installed on Guam would be used sparingly — and hopefully never in response to an actual attack.
“It’s not like those areas are going to be marked off and it’s like you can’t fish there,” he said, later adding: “If we were to do a test shot, we would close it off for the duration of the test shot and that would be it. This is not like routine exercises. These missiles are extremely expensive. This is to shoot down an incoming threat to save the people here. That’s what it’s for.”
Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson, commander of Joint Region Marianas, poses for photos Tuesday after a media conference with Guam reporters.
