A Significant Demonstration of Missile Know-How
Last updated 05:52 PM EDT • Read time: 2m
Much fuss was made in February this year when North Korea launched a medium-range solid-fuelled missile from a mobile launcher. The ability to prepare and launch these missiles quickly gives little potential warning of an upcoming attack, thus raising tensions in East Asia at a time when so many other geopolitical factors are supplying heat.
On Wednesday morning (Korean time) North Korea seems to have launched another such missile, which is known as Pukguksong-2 to North Korea and KN-15 by foreign analysts. Curiously, the launch of this missile was made from Sinpo, close to a North Korean submarine base, but intelligence reports suggest it was launched from land, not sea. The location points to synergy between this land-based missile and a close sibling that serves as North Korea’s Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile. The latter is dubbed Pukguksong-1 or KN-11.
Both are 'cold-launched' using gas pressure from cylindrical containers (silos) and ignite their solid motors after they have left their containers. They use basically the same design for their rocket stages.
The latest launch only travelled 60 kilometres horizontally, but this should not necessarily be interpreted as a failure. The missile reached an altitude of 189 kilometres, well into outer space. This would seem to be a test of an alternative trajectory, which exposes the missile to different conditions. Re-entry testing could have been conducted on this flight.
There could be another explanation for the launch. This could be a test of elements of the submarine-launched missile from a land-based silo, or a test of systems common to both missiles.
We could be witnessing the evolution of both land and sea missiles at the same time, and a growing synergy between the two.
In any case, the development of these two classes of missiles represents a major development in North Korea’s strategic power.
The timing of this latest launch so close to the Xi-Trump meeting later this week has its own significance. It was met with short shrift in the US where Secretary of State Rex Tillerson issued a terse statement:
"North Korea launched yet another intermediate range ballistic missile. The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment."
This article appeared originally at The Lowy Institute Interpreter.
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