Design Changes Make North Korea’s KN-08 ICBM More Reliable

The North Koreans continue to tinker with their road mobile ICBM which is their primary strategic deterrent against the United States:

Design changes to a North Korean missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland should increase its reliability but are likely to delay deployment for at least five years, according to a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.

The KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile, which was publicly displayed during an October military parade, has been shortened and simplified, according to 38 North, a website run by Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies that monitors North Korean activities. A blunt warhead that is more likely to survive re-entry replaces a narrow, pointed design, and the missile’s three stages have been reduced to two.

“The underlying technology is mostly the same — a blend of North Korean engineering and Cold War leftovers from the Soviet Union — but the structural design has been substantially improved,” the report said Tuesday. “There is reason to suspect that the new structural technology was illicitly obtained from Ukrainian sources.”

The new KN-08 would have a range similar to its predecessor — about 5,600 miles, enough to reach the U.S. West Coast — with an estimated success rate of 50 percent to 60 percent, the report said. The previous model’s rate was estimated at 30 percent to 40 percent.

“The new design is simpler and more reliable, and thus a more credible threat,” 38 North said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.