Trump says to roll out missile defence review

President Donald Trump will unveil a review of US missile defence capabilities yesterday that aims to counter threats from North Korea and Iran while adapting to ever more sophisticated weapon systems being developed by Russia and China. Top among the concerns highlighted by the Missile Defence Review is the speed at which rivals, particularly Beijing and Moscow, are pushing ahead with new technologies such as hypersonic missiles that can thwart traditional defence systems.

Flying at low altitude, many times the speed of sound, and able to change direction, these weapons don’t follow a ballistic arc so are much harder to track and cannot be intercepted. As a result, the Pentagon is urgently looking at ways to enhance its ability to track hypersonic missiles, primarily by using existing sensors that are deployed in space.

“Enhancing our ability to track these emerging threats will make defending against cruise missile and (hypersonic) threats possible,” the Missile Defence Agency (MDA) said in a summary of the review. Trump ordered the analysis in 2017, amid heightened tensions with Pyongyang over its nuclear program -- the first such review of America’s ballistic defences since 2010.