Northern Australia may be a target

If North Korea starts chucking missiles around in response to US aggression, a few may be heading for Australia, but there are still some doubts that the country has enough long range missiles to pose a major threat. It's likely that the targets will be in the north of Australia. As US bases, Darwin and Cairns are likely to be first in line. Darwin regularly hosts US troops and ships. Trinity Inlet, Cairns is home for US nuclear submarines.The country has two types of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) the KN-08 and KN-14. Designed to be transported and fired from mobile rocket launchers the three-stage KN-08 is believed to have a range of about 11,500km with the two-stage KN-14 having a shorter range. It is believed that at least one of the missiles has been adapted for submarine launch.The issue of North Korea will almost certainly be on the agenda when US Vice President, Mike Pence visits Australia on April 22. It will be interesting to see how the F-35B Joint Strike Fighters perform in training exercises involving South Korean forces and the USS Carl Vinson Strike group. There is a growing view that the fighter jets are not fully operational. Meanwhile there is concern that a North Korean or Russian submarine may be off the Californian coast near Los Angeles and San Diego. There are reports that US Anti submarine aircraft are patrolling the area. Of course if North Korea launched its missiles from submarines off Australia's coast, anywhere in this country could be a target including US facilities at Pine Gap and North West Cape Meanwhile Russian bombers have been spotted in US airspace over Alaska.