North Korean ICBMs: ¿From The Parade To The Test?

Among the new weapon systems put on display by North Korea two months ago were the Hwasong-12 Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) the Pukguksong-2 Medium-Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM), a new precision Scud variant, and an improved coastal defense cruise missile, all of which have appeared on the testing grounds in recent weeks.

However, North Korea has yet to test his liquid-fueled KN-08 and KN-14 ICBMs (Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles): North Korea has been exclusively testing missiles that appeared in a military parade earlier this year, raising serious questions about what threat from North Korea is getting ready next.

North Korea has said as much “The series of recent strategic weapons tests show that we are not too far away from test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile,” the Rodong Sinmun, the official paper of the ruling party, said Saturday. In addition to its long-range missile aspirations, the North is also interested in developing a diverse arsenal of missiles for a complex variety of combat contingencies.

So, what is North Korea’s next move? “I suppose one way to think about it would be to look at the April 15 parade again,” Joshua Pollack, a leading arms expert, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Even when the North has yet not tested the suspected solid-fueled, canister-launched ICBM seen during the parade, the recent string of weapons testing suggests that a test of some type of ICBM is coming soon.

North Korea Could Soon Have A Nuclear Missile Able To Reach Seattle

North Korea is making progress on an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a first-generation nuclear warhead to the continental United States, a leading US think-tank said.

The closely followed 38 North website of the Johns Hopkins University's US-Korea Institute argued that ICBM mock-ups seen at recent military parades in Pyongyang were "less fake" than originally believed.

Numerous experts had widely ridiculed the models of the North's road-mobile KN-08 ICBM seen in 2012 and July this year, with at least one respected aerospace engineer labelling them technically preposterous and a "big hoax". An analysis posted by 38 North disagreed, saying they were consistent with the ongoing development of a missile with a limited intercontinental ability using only existing North Korean technology.

"Elegant or not," the mockups suggest an ability to assemble components and technologies to produce missiles with theoretical ranges of 5,500 kilometres (3,400 miles) to more than 11,000 km. The analysis was co-written by non-proliferation expert Jeffrey Lewis and aerospace engineer John Schilling. The authors noted that glaring discrepancies in KN-08 mock-ups displayed in 2012 had largely disappeared by the time of the July parade. And the new arrangement of welds and rivets was similar to that seen on recovered debris from the North's Unha-3 carrier, which successfully placed a satellite in orbit in December last year.

In a separate, technical paper published in Science and Global Security, Schilling stressed that the KN-08 was still very much a missile in development. Lewis and Schilling's paper referenced recent analysis of satellite imagery indicating that North Korea was upgrading its main missile launch site, possibly to cater to larger, mobile weapons. An initial test of the KN-08 could come "at any time", Schilling said. Missile delivery has often been cited as the main weakness of the North's nuclear weapons programme which, after three tests, is believed to be close to mastering the key technology of warhead miniaturisation. December's satellite launch caused serious concern, but experts stressed that it lacked the re-entry technology needed to bring an ICBM down onto a target.

Nevertheless, Lewis and Schiller said dismissing the mock-ups paraded in Pyongyang would be dangerous. "The simplest explanation here is that the KN-08 is exactly what it appears to be: A developmental road-mobile ICBM of limited capability but still able to threaten the continental United States," they said.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/think-tank-north-korea-could-soon-have-a-nuclear-missile-able-to-reach-seattle-2013-11#ixzz2jm6O7xTB

MDA director gives update on missile defense

Vice Adm. James Syring, director of the MDA (Missile Defense Agency, updated last week’s attendees of the Space and Missile Defense Symposium on the programs the Missile Defense Agency has in place to protect not only the war fighter, but the nation’s homeland and its allies.

Those programs are becoming more and more important, Syring said, as the threat increases. Not counting the U.S., Russia, China or NATO, roughly 6,000 ballistic missiles exist in the world today – by 2020 that number is expected to increase to 7,950. “The threat over the last couple of years has certainly escalated,” Syring said. “It has influenced a lot of the decisions we have made in missile defense to better posture ourselves against the threat.”

All one has to do is look at the news to see images of the North Koreans parading their KN-08 missiles through the streets to realize the global threat is real and imminent. Currently in the process of developing a road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile and an intermediate-range ballistic missile, North Korea’s weapons could potentially reach Guam, the Aleutian Islands, and even Hawaii, according to Syring. Iran, too, is increasing its force through the deployment of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles.

While defending the U.S. and its allies may seem daunting, defense secretary Chuck Hagel outlined in March several actions being taken to counter the nation’s adversaries, which Syring expanded on during his remarks. Those priorities include:

• Deploying 14 ground-based interceptors to Fort Greely, Alaska, by fiscal year 2017
• Deploying an additional AN/TPY-2, anti-ballistic missile radar that will provide early warning and tracking of launched missiles to Japan
• Conducting environmental impact studies for a potential additional interceptor site in the continental U.S.
• Restructure the Standard Missile 3 IIB program into a common kill vehicle technology program

Corea del Norte: Nuevo show de misiles en el aniversario del fin de la guerra

Actualmente se cree -o al menos se tiene en cuenta a la hora de plantear hipótesis- que el ejército de la Republica Popular Democrática de Corea del Norte cuenta en su arsenal con un buen puñado de misiles de largo alcance.

 

En este sentido merece la pena recordar el desfile del año pasado, en el que se mostraron seis misiles KN-08 montados sobre lanzaderas de fabricación china. Para David Stone, profesor de historia en la Kansas State University y experto en armamento ruso "Lo bonito de un desfile es que las armas no tienen por qué funcionar para causar una buena impresión. Una lanzadera de misiles causa impacto aun cuando el misil que transporta no tenga posibilidades de ser disparado." 

Efectivamente, para la mayoría de expertos tan solo se trataba de maquetas por varias razones que no vamos a tratar en este post. De momento se descarta que aun existiendo tales misiles éstos constituyan en modo alguno un peligro -pues ni siquiera existen indicios de que el regimen comunista haya desarrollado ojivas nucleares de tamaño reducido-, pero en cualquier caso habrá que estar alerta.