North Korea’s unprecedented nighttime military parade on Saturday showcased an unusually wide range of new weapons, from a spectacular “monster” ballistic missile to never-before-seen battle tanks.
The hardware, probably still in various stages of development, offered leader Kim Jong Un the opportunity to show the world his cutting-edge military might while adding practical capabilities to North Korea’s already formidable nuclear and conventional forces, experts said.
Kim walks a fine line, seeking to increase pressure on the United States to ease sanctions without destroying the relationship with US President Donald Trump or Pyongyang’s partners in China.
“Kim Jong Un’s speech was not a threat to the United States, but rather labeled North Korea’s nuclear forces as self-defense,” said Bruce Klingner, a retired North Korea CIA analyst who now works at the Heritage Foundation. . “The clear message was that, contrary to US claims, the North Korean nuclear threat has not been resolved.”
Video from the parade suggested a potentially more lethal huge ICBM, either due to multiple warheads or a larger payload, larger missile carriers, a missile launched from next-generation submarines, and advances in conventional weaponry. said military analysts.
Multiple warheads?
The star of Saturday’s show was a massive ICBM, never seen before, carried on an equally massive 11-axis “transporter-erector-launcher” (TEL) vehicle.
At an estimated 25 to 26 meters (82 to 85 feet) long and 2.5 to 2.9 meters (8 to 9.5 feet) in diameter, the unidentified missile would be the largest mobile ICBM in the world. world, military analysts said.
Given that the Hwasong-15, the largest missile North Korea has ever tested, can already target anywhere in the United States, the most likely practical use for the new ICBM would be the ability to carry multiple warheads, Melissa said. Hanham, MP. director of the Open Nuclear Network.
It’s much cheaper for North Korea to add warheads than for the United States to add interceptors, said Jeffrey Lewis, a missile researcher at the James Martin Center for Non-Proliferation Studies (CNS).
“If each new North Korean ICBM can carry 3-4 warheads, we would need 12-16 interceptors for each missile,” he said on Twitter. “The last time the United States bought 14 interceptors, it cost a billion dollars.”
Other analysts said the missile could simply be designed to carry a single, larger warhead.
“A larger warhead doesn’t necessarily mean multiple warheads, a technology that I think North Korea has yet to achieve,” said Kim Dong-yup, a former South Korean Navy officer who is now a professor at the Far East Institute. from Kyungnam University in Seoul.
Missile carriers
Analysts said it was also notable that North Korea appeared to have built the massive new TELs to carry the new missiles.
“They have a very limited supply of long-life TEL that they acquired from China,” said another CNS researcher, Dave Schmerler, adding that the lack of vehicles has limited the number of ICBMs that could be deployed. “So the longest TELs that we saw were produced indigenously.”
But the massive size of the new missile and its carrier also has drawbacks, said Markus Schiller, a missile expert based in Europe.
“Only special roads and bridges could withstand this under fuel conditions,” he said. “No sane person would drive this time bomb across the North Korean countryside.”
It would probably take up to half a day to power such a large missile, making it difficult to deploy quickly in a war, meaning the missile’s primary purpose is likely a political warning, Schiller said.
Submarine missile
North Korea also unveiled what appeared to be a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), dubbed Pukguksong-4.
“If the new SLBM is intended to be deployed, it may be intended for the new conventionally-propelled ballistic missile submarine that North Korea has hinted it will build in July 2019,” said analysts at 38 North, a US-based think tank. United, in a report. .
At least some parts of the missile’s motor housing appeared to be wound with filaments, which would reduce the weight of the missile structure and allow for greater range and payload capacity, according to the report.
Conventional weapons
The parade featured what appeared to be new or updated weapons for North Korea’s conventional military, one of the largest in the world.
The North showed row upon row of multiple short-range ballistic missile and rocket launch systems that were subjected to intensive testing over the past year.
“My biggest concern was the solid-fuel short-range tactical missiles that North Korea had focused on developing over the past year,” said Chun Yung-woo, a former South Korean nuclear negotiator.
The parade also showcased new mobile air defense radar vehicles and what appeared to be an entirely new tank with anti-tank missiles and smoke grenade launchers more integrated into the design than previous imported models.
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