US to Build Long-Range Radar in Alaska to Eye Nother Korea's Rockets

The United States plans to begin construction next year of hyper-sensitive radar in the state of Alaska to monitor North Korean missiles, Missile Defense Agency (MDA) Director Vice Admiral James Syring stated in a congressional testimony on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Syring explained that there continues to be a "clear intent" by North Korea to produce mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States.

"Among our planned homeland defense improvements to identify and track lethal objects, we will begin construction in fiscal year [20]17 of the Long Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) in Alaska to improve system performance against the stated Pacific theater threats," Syring told the US Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

The US timetable for deploying missile defenses in Alaska is based on estimates that North Korea will perfect it ability to deliver weapons of mass destruction by 2020, Syring explained.

North Korea has been regularly conducting missile tests in recent months and a nuclear bomb test last January.

Eventually, the radar system in Alaska will be paired with US interceptor rockets that are designed to destroy North Korean missiles in flight.