Originally Posted by
CONSO
I'm sure everyone has seen the clips of a ' medium' range NK missile being launched in a cloud of red smoke. The red smoke is a clue to thde propellant combination bering used. red fuming nitric acid and some form of a mixed amine fuel ( hydrazine ? ) . Similar to that used on the first nuke amed ballistic missile in the US called the Corporal- basically a updated version of the german A4/( V2), and similar to the titan missiles. Fuels ignite on contact ( hypergolic) - Which means very vunerable before launch or in storage. Along with cooling issues for long range. While the NK missiles may not be very accurate- the question becomes how close to guam consists of an ' attack". IMHO- those particular missiles can be very easily stopped even with a near miss by almost any anti missile detonated within a few hundred yards due to required thin tanks and very touchy fuel pumps or pressurization systems- almost any leak or inadvertant mixing of fuel and oxidizer would be sufficient.
break out the popcorn
Vulnerable in the ~3 minute boost phase, but boost phase defence is pretty tricky unless one knows exactly where and when the launch will take place - and even then you have to be perhaps too close for comfort, i.e. within range of anti-ship missiles.
It's why Aegis is a post-boost defence system.