Tag: missile test

If they did test a hypersonic missile experts are saying it is in a very early developmental stage. However, as we have seen with their ICBM program they can make gains pretty quickly with repetitive testing. This may be an indication that they plan to do more upcoming testing as part of provocation cycle to pressure the Biden administration to give them what they want:

North Korea’s newly unveiled “hypersonic missile” appears to be at an early stage of development and can be intercepted by South Korean and U.S. military assets, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday.

The assessment came hours after the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the country’s Academy of Defense Science conducted the first test fire of the hypersonic Hwasong-8 missile from Toyang-ri, Jagang Province, on Tuesday.

“Given the detected speed and other features of the ‘hypersonic missile’ North Korea said it test-fired yesterday, it appears to be at an early stage of development that would require considerable time for actual deployment,” the JCS said in a statement. 

The North’s missile reportedly flew at a speed of around Mach 3, though the military declined to confirm details, including its flight range and altitude.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It seems that North Korea is slowly working their way up towards another provocation cycle if they don’t get what they want:

North Korea fired two cruise missiles off the west coast Sunday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday, Pyongyang’s first missile test in about a year seen as aimed at testing the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden without being too provocative.

“We detected two projectiles presumed to be cruise missiles fired from the North’s western port county of Onchon early Sunday,” a JCS officer told reporters.

Yonhap

You can read more at the test, but firing cruise missiles is actually not part of the UN ballistic missile ban on North Korea.

Not even a global pandemic is going to deter the North Koreans from testing their ballistic missiles:

North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Sunday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, the latest in a series of projectile launches even as the country is on high alert against the coronavirus.

Both were fired northeastward from the eastern coastal city of Wonsan at 6:10 a.m. within a 20-second interval and flew around 230 kilometers at a maximum altitude of around 30 km, the JCS said, adding that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing other specifics.

“In a situation where the entire world is experiencing difficulties due to COVID-19, this kind of military act by North Korea is very inappropriate and we call for an immediate halt,” JCS said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but on a good note they continue to test only their short range missiles. If they really wanted to take advantage of the current coronavirus crisis they could start testing their longer range systems again.

It would be interesting to see what the U.S. response would be to such a provocation in the middle of this pandemic. Hopefully the North Koreans continue to behave so the U.S., the ROK, and other nations don’t have to deal with two crisis at once.

Obviously coronavirus fears are not stopping the North Koreans from doing their annual wintertime military training:

North Korea fired three short-range projectiles into the East Sea on Monday for the second time in a week in what was believed to be part of a joint strike exercise, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The projectiles were fired northeastward from areas near its eastern town of Sondok in South Hamgyong Province at around 7:36 a.m, the JCS said, adding that they flew around 200 kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of around 50 km.

The launches came a week after the North conducted similar firings on March 2.

“Today’s launches appear to be part of its artillery strike drill involving multiple types of multiple rocket launchers for a wintertime exercise, following the previous ones staged on Feb. 28 and March 2,” the JCS said in a release.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but of significance is that North Korea continues to not fire their longer range missiles which is keeping them in compliance with the informal agreement Kim Jong-un made with President Trump.

In non-coronavirus news, North Korea wants everyone to know they are still there:

North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Monday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, the first such launches since it warned of “a new strategic weapon” early this year.

The projectiles were fired from areas near its eastern coastal city of Wonsan towards the northeast at 12:37 p.m. within a 20-second interval, the JCS said, adding that both flew around 240 kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of around 35 km.

“South Korean and the U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing their type. We found some similarities in features between what it fired today and those launched last year,” a JCS officer told reporters. 

The latest ones appear to have been fired from transporter erector launcher (TEL) vehicles, he added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is business as usual on the Korean peninsula:

North Korea fired two short-range projectiles from a western region toward the East Sea on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, just hours after the communist nation offered to resume nuclear talks with the United States.

The projectiles were fired at 6:53 a.m. and 7:12 a.m. from areas in the city of Kaechon, South Pyongan Province, about 80 kilometers north of the capital, Pyongyang, in a northeastern direction, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

Both flew around 330 km across the peninsula, reaching a maximum altitude of around 50 to 60 km, the JCS said, while declining to confirm if the two projectiles landed in the East Sea or how fast they flew. The JCS added that South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing their exact type. (…….)

The firings came just hours after the North’s First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui expressed a willingness to resume denuclearization talks with the U.S. in late September and demanded that Washington come up with a new proposal acceptable to Pyongyang.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but as I have been saying for months, the North Koreans are going to push for the dropping sanctions on Kaesong and other cross border projects for little to nothing in return. If they don’t get a deal by the end of the year I expect them to start testing their longer range systems in order to create a “crisis” during the Presidential campaign season next year.

Creating such a crisis would undermine President Trump’s foreign policy credentials that his Democratic rivals can attack him with. So it will be interesting to see if President Trump decides to cut a deal to keep Pyongyang quiet next year. If not things could be very interesting on the peninsula next year.

It appears that North Korea is continuing to test their new short range missile and using the US-ROK joint exercise as cover to do so:

North Korea fired yet more unidentified projectiles into the East Sea on Saturday, South Korea’s military said, the latest launch in a series of saber-rattling moves against the current joint exercise between Seoul and Washington.

Two projectiles were fired from near its eastern coastal city of Hamhung in South Hamgyong Province earlier in the day, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). No other details were immediately known, including their type, flight range and maximum altitude.

“Our military is monitoring the situation in case of additional launches while maintaining a readiness posture,” the JCS said in a brief release.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It seems besides the strategic messaging to Washington, that the Kim regime is continuing prove that their new missile can accurately fly at different trajectories:

North Korea on Wednesday launched two short-range ballistic missiles from its eastern coast, the second such test in six days. 

According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the missiles were fired at 5:06 a.m. and 5:27 a.m. from an area around Kalma near Wonsan, Kangwon Province. Both projectiles flew around 250 kilometers (155 miles) at an altitude of approximately 30 kilometers before landing in the East Sea, a JCS spokesman said. 

The first missile to be fired was spotted by Korea’s Master Control and Reporting Center (MCRC) and a Navy vessel equipped with the Aegis Combat System, while the second was detected by the MCRC, the ship and early warning radar. 

While it is not yet known what kinds of rocket were launched Wednesday, they may be similar to those fired on July 25, which are believed to be domestically produced variants of the Russian-made 9K720 Iskander missile system, code named KN-23 by South Korean and U.S. intelligence. (…..)

The significant feature of Wednesday’s test was the missile’s low peak altitude of 30 kilometers. South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo at a security forum Wednesday said that South Korean and U.S. intelligence saw in the North’s newest tests “different indicators” than before.

Analysts said Pyongyang may have deliberately chosen to test a variety of trajectories for its KN-23 missile system since May in order to send a message to Seoul and Washington that it possesses the capacity to evade their most sophisticated antimissile defense systems.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the article once again discusses how the KN-23 can fly lower than the engagement altitude of THAAD. The ROK military rightfully countered that they have Patriot missile batteries that can engage this threat.  

THAAD was never meant to be a magic bullet that engages all threats on the peninsula. THAAD engages targets at higher altitudes than Patriot. One of the main reasons it was deployed was because of the threat of lofted trajectory missiles that North Korea was testing that the Patriot batteries could not engage.