Diagram of the THAAD Missile T-Shirt

Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD), formerly Theatre High Altitude Area Defence, is a United States system designed to shoot down short, medium, and intermediate ballistic missiles in their terminal phase using a hit-to-kill approach. The missile carries no warhead but relies on the kinetic energy of the impact. THAAD was designed to hit Scuds and similar weapons, but has a limited capability against ICBMs. This image or file is a work of the United States Missile Defence Agency; as a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.