Missile defense to simulate Iran attack

Jerusalem Post:

A top Pentagon official said Monday that a US missile defense drill will simulate an Iranian attack, a departure from the usual scenario of a North Korean attack, according to Reuters.

"Previously, we have been testing the GMD system against a North Korean-type scenario. This next test ... is more of a head-on shot like you would use defending against an Iranian shot into the United States. So that's the first time that we're now testing in a different scenario," Lt. Gen. Patrick O'Reilly, head of the US Missile Defense Agency said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit in Washington.

According to O'Reilly, an Iranian attack would be more challenging than a North Korean attack because a missile fired from Iran would reach the US "more head on than from the side," and therefore relatively faster.

During the test, expected to cost about $150 million scheduled for January, the US would fire an interceptor missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at a mock-Iranian missile which would be fired from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.

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I think we should also be concerned about Iran firing a missile from somewhere in South or Central America. It already has missiles with that kind of range. Iran has certainly been active in the region and could probably get a base for its missiles.