The Trump administration is concerned that America’s missile defense system set to protect the country from a North Korean attack is insufficient. Additionally, Congress is working on a strategy that will stop the missiles before they leave the North Korean airspace. In an interview, defense officials envision a stepped-up use of ultra-modern cyber-weapons that will breach North Korean control systems before the missiles are launched. The plan also includes fighter jets and drones that will attempt to shoot down the missiles immediately after liftoff.

Of interest is the Avenger drone by General Atomics (GA), which could be potentially used in shooting down North Korean missiles. According to Gerold Yonas who serves as Chief Scientist for the Star Wars program, the drone plan has potential. He said that the plan is one of the counter-strategies they would have prioritized early enough.

Leonard Caveny, a former Navy officer and chief planner of the rocket-firing drones; who also worked at the 1985 to 1997 Pentagon’s anti-missile program, said they are doing their best, and expect the weapons to be ready in less than one year. According to Dr. Caveny, his team considers using the Avenger, a game-changing drone built by General Atomics to help stop an attack.

The Missile Defence Agency team at the Pentagon is also working on a drone that can fire potent laser beams, which will damage the rising missiles. However, the Pentagon looks forward to the debut of this plan no sooner than 2025, a defense mechanism which would come in too late to help control the current crisis in the Trump presidency.

Influential authorities and agencies have backed the effort to create laser-firing drones. Recently, General John Hyten of the U.S Strategic Command said lasers would be a better interceptor compared to rockets as they avoided the controversial question of firing weapons into other sovereign territories in a bid to knock out missiles. “A potent laser beam with highly concentrated light goes into space, thus avoiding trespass issues,” he said. In a series of consultation meetings held in recent months, the US Congress urged Pentagon to develop both models of drones.

Professor Theodore A. Postol, the head of science and national security policies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology has drawn up several plans for missile-firing drones, arguing that a fleet of such drones deployed to patrol near the North, will be extremely intimidating to its strategic forces. His concern was that they need something that will pressure North Korea into a diplomatic approach and negotiation.

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