What is THAAD?

Recently, the issue about whether South Korea will employ THAAD had been a hot topic over the internet. So what THAAD really is?

Following are the summary about what THAAD is about.

THAAD, abbreviation for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, refers to a missile defense system that aims to intercept the incoming missile at the terminal phase. 

Source: https://www.google.co.kr/search?q=thaad&rlz=1C1HLDY_enSG693SG693&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj8w-_V6ITNAhWKlJQKHSWJCPsQ_AUIBygB&biw=1366&bih=643#imgrc=NXy4G66jgmSgoM%3A

THAAD system is known to cover the range of 150km height and 200km in distance, with each missile having 6.17m of length and 34cm of diameter. The system fires two missiles at a time with each showing 70% of success rate, thus together adding up to success rate around 90%.

 The most significant feature however, lies in the AN/TYP-2 radar that is included in THAAD artillery. As a type of X-band radar, AN/TYP-2 radar possesses the capacity to detect objects as small as a baseball within the range of 1800km. 

Source: http://www.raytheon.com/capabilities/products/antpy2/

This implies that placing a THAAD artillery in Pyongtaek region crystalizes not only North Korean missiles and nuclear weapons, but also those of China that are placed near the coastline.

 Each THAAD artillery consists of six missile launchers each equipped with eight missiles, adding up to 48 missiles per artillery. Currently, the US possesses four THAAD artilleries around the world.