On September 28, the North Korean armed forces launched a new short-range ballistic missile. But according to the state website Rodong Sinmun, this test was much more than a simple new expression of Pyongyang's annoyance with American maneuvers in South Korea and the Pacific, since it was, according to declarations North Koreans, to test a new missile equipped with a hypersonic glider, the Hwasong-8. The launch was reportedly tracked by South Korean radars, with an apogee of 30 km and a recorded range of 200 km. But according to Pyongyang, the test would have given complete satisfaction, even going so far as to publish a photo of the launch, with in fact, what could look like a hypersonic glider mounted on the ballistic missile. North Korean leader Kim Jung Un confirmed at the 8th North Korean Workers' Congress that the country was developing its own hypersonic weapons program, but at no time did Western experts believe that Pyongyang could have been so advanced. in this area, to the point of being able to test a hypersonic glider in real conditions, a technology that only the United States, Russia and China have mastered to date.
We must obviously be very careful with these statements. Nothing indicates, in the information transmitted by the South Korean authorities, that the radar tracking of the missile was able to show characteristics of those with which hypersonic gliders are equipped, in particular great maneuverability in the atmospheric phase. The published photo (in the main illustration) actually shows direction rudders on the warhead of the missile, but these differ somewhat in the shape of the models used in Russia (Avagard), in China (DF- 17) or in the United States (Waverider), and may suggest more of a maneuvering atmospheric re-entry warhead rather than a true hypersonic glider. Finally, the range recorded during the test, 200 km for an apogee of 30 km, is consistent with that of a short-range ballistic missile, and does not characterize a hypersonic glide phase.
There are 75% of this article left to read, Subscribe to access it!
The Classic subscriptions provide access to
articles in their full version, and without advertising.
Meta-Defense celebrates its 5th anniversary!
- 20% on your Classic or Premium subscription, with the code Metanniv24
Offer valid from May 10 to 20 for the online subscription of a new Classic or Premium, annual or weekly subscription on the Meta-Defense website.
[…] characteristics very close to those of Hades, but also of China (DF-21, DF-17), North Korea (KN-23) or Iran (Fateh-110, Shahab 2.. ). Most of these systems, apart from the models […]
[…] is however not the only one to have recorded important successes in this field. North Korea has thus carried out several tests in recent months of a ballistic missile equipped with a hypersonic glider, while […]