Trump Requests $4 Billion More For Missile Defense Against North Korea

The White House is asking Congress for an additional $4 billion to fund a missile defense against North Korea.

The request was made in a Monday letter from President Trump to Congress, The Hill reported.

The money would pay for 16 Standard Missle-3 Block11A interceptor rockets, 50 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptor missiles, and upgrades to radar and missile detection capabilities, the letter revealed. It also would add an additional Ground Based Interceptor Field at Fort Greely, Alaska, and 20 new interceptors. The request is apparently in addition in $9.9 billion Trump had already requested for missile defense.

“We’re going to be increasing our budget by many billions of dollars because of North Korea and other reasons having to do with the anti-missile [aspect],” Trump told reporters in August.

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Despite the spending, no one knows if an anti-missile defense system will work. The missile system based at Fort Greely, missed targets in nine out of 18 tests since 1999, the All Things Nuclear blog noted.

The missile-defense money was part of a larger request for a variety of defense and other spending. The same request included $1.6 billion for the Mexico border wall and $1.2 billion for additional troop deployments in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

“Providing for the safety and security of the American people is my top priority,” Trump wrote in the letter.

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