Analysts said North Korea’s latest launches appear to be aimed at developing and testing technology that could be used in spy satellites and a giant intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), capable of launching multiple nuclear warheads.
North Korea deployed a new ICBM system in test-firing on February 27 and March 5, US and South Korean officials said on Friday, in what could be a prelude to the nuclear-armed country’s first full ICBM test since 2017. is, a potentially disguised space launch.
The giant, long-range missile system, known as Hwaseong-17, was first unveiled at an October 2020 military parade in Pyongyang and again in October 2021 at a defense exhibition, according to US and South Korean officials. appeared from
Analysts said Hwasong-17’s sheer size suggests North Korea is looking to equip it with a number of nuclear warheads in a “Multiple Independent-Targetable Reentry Vehicle” (MIRV).
In such a system, the main rocket booster pushes a “bus” carrying several reentry vehicles and sometimes into the suborbital ballistic flight path to confuse missile defense systems.
The bus then uses small on-board rocket motors and a computerized inertial guidance system to rotate and release warheads on different trajectories.
State media reports on recent satellite system tests mentioned attitude control, which refers to small motors that help redirect an aerodynamic object, said Ankit Panda, of the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A senior colleague noted.
“It turns out that this will help them develop and deploy new reconnaissance satellites as well as a ‘bus’ for multiple warheads on one ICBM,” he said.
In 2021, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that a multi-combat rocket was in the final stages of development.
Kim has also said that keeping several reconnaissance satellites in orbit is important to the country’s security as well as its national reputation, and suggested that he may order new ICBM tests.
“North Korea wants to successfully put a satellite into orbit,” researcher Michael Duitsman of the US-based James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) said on Twitter. “I suspect that, even more so, they want to put more warheads on their missiles so that they have a limited number of TELs,” he said, referring to the Transporter Erector Launcher (TEL) vehicles, which fire road-mobile missiles. Used to do Hwaseong-17.
secret launch
North Korea was unusually secretive about the launches, saying they tested various components used in a development reconnaissance satellite, but did not release any details or photos of the rockets involved.
Unlike North Korea’s normal space rockets, which were launched from a stable pad at the Sohee Satellite Launching Ground, more recent missiles were fired from near Sunan, where Pyongyang’s international airport is located, suggesting that the missiles was fired with a TEL.
North Korea’s space program has always been controversial because of its ties to military missile development.
Melissa Hanham, a researcher at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, said, “North Korea used Taepodong and Unha/Kwangmyongsong to test its theories and later develop ICBMs known as Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-15. used early rockets like the series.” CISAC) in California. “This type of development is pretty standard for all countries with ICBMs.”
North Korea’s last formal ICBM test was the Hwasong-15, which reached an altitude of about 4,475 km (2,780 mi) and traveled 950 km (590 mi) during a single launch in November 2017, making it estimated that It can attack anywhere. Continental United States.
In contrast, the latest test which reportedly involved the new Hwasong-17 system reached an altitude of 550 km (340 mi) and flew 300 km (190 mi), according to South Korea. Analysts said only one stage of the liquid-fueled Hwasong-17 could be used in the tests.
A senior US official told reporters in Washington on condition of anonymity that the UN Security Council resolutions on any use of ballistic missile technology by North Korea even in space launch vehicles are completely banned.
© Thomson Reuters 2022