> There’s another kind of missile defense system, which targets the missile payloads as they are falling (in their terminal phase). These systems are highly eff

> There’s another kind of missile defense system, which targets the missile payloads as they are falling (in their terminal phase). These systems are highly effective, but they can only defend a small area. We have them around military bases, Washington D.C., etc. Do you think "highly effective" is fair? The article I read about THAAD suggest it's probably effective against short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballastic missles; marginally effective against a limited number of ICBMs; and essentially ineffective against a large number of ICBMs. Against an adversary like Russia that has a ton of ICBMs, I don't think THAAD systems can protect even a small geographic area like DC. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_High_Altitude_Area_Defense https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_High_Altitude_Area_De... https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/usmissiledefense https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/usmissiledefense