Tag: SLBM

Why North Korea is Trying To Develop a Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile

| May 1, 2016

I wonder how much of North Korea’s submarine launched ballistic missile technology is a charade to make the outside world think they have advanced their technology more than they really have?:

North Korea’s new sea-launched, nuclear-capable ballistic missile and the submarine that fires it are both technologically backward, unreliable, and wickedly unsafe for the unfortunate souls tasked with operating them.In short, Pyongyang’s new undersea nuke—which the hermit regime test-launched off the country’s eastern coast on April 23—is a dud by any normal standard.

But that doesn’t matter, because normal standards of atomic safety and effectiveness don’t apply to North Korea’s totalitarian regime. Pyongyang has nuclear weapons plus at least one submarine that, however unreliably, can launch them. That rudimentary atomic capability is probably all the regime needs to deter the rest of the world… while also bending the international system’s rules for its own benefit.  (……)

The submarine in question, apparently built in secrecy some time before 2010, appears to be a modified version of a Yugoslavian sub design from the mid-1970s.Approximately 220 feet long and displacing around 1,500 tons of water, the North Korean vessel is ancient and tiny compared to the latest U.S. and Russian ballistic-missile submarines, which can stretch 500 feet or more from bow to stern and displace 18,000 tons of water.

And the North Korean Pongdae-class sub—named for the boiler plant that serves as the official cover for the shipyard that reportedly built the vessel—is surely no less accident-prone than Pyongyang’s other submarines, one of which went missing and presumably sank while on patrol in early March.“I certainly wouldn’t want to be on a North Korean submarine,” Eric Wertheim, an independent U.S. naval analyst and author of Combat Fleets of the World, told The Daily Beast. “They’re not the safest of underwater platforms.”  [The Daily Beast]

You can read the rest at the link.

 

North Korea Launches Submarine Launched Missile That May Have Failed

| April 24, 2016

In an effort to probably save face after their failed Musudan test the North Koreans have now launched an submarine launched ballistic missile that may have failed as well.  Unlike the Musudan test though that may have blown up at the launch site this test did at least go 30 kilometers before possibly failing, so they did get some data from the launch to continue to improve the missile.  An SLBM is particularly dangerous because a submarine can appear anywhere and launch which makes missile defense especially challenging:

North Korea launched what appeared to be a ballistic missile from a submarine in the East Sea Saturday, the South Korean military said.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said North Korea fired a projectile that it believes was a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) around 6:30 p.m. The JCS said it is keeping close tabs on the North Korean military while maintaining its readiness posture.

The JCS added that the missile flew for only about 30 kilometers, well short of the minimum SLBM range of 300 km.

Separately, a South Korean government source said the SLBM’s engine ignited after it was ejected from a 2,000-ton Sinpo-class submarine but it only traveled a short distance.

“This projectile, which is believed to be an SLBM, was airborne for a couple of minutes,” the source added.

Last month, a U.S. news report claimed that North Korea had conducted a ground test of an SLBM, the KN-11. The Washington Free Beacon said the test on March 16 involved an ejection test of the KN-11 from a canister at Sinpo shipyard on the North’s eastern coast.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

North Korea’s Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile Video Doctored

| January 12, 2016

The North Korean’s are believed to have doctored a video of their SLBM test to make people think they have greater capability than they really have.  Watch the video below and judge for yourself.  The reason the North Koreans really want people to believe they are developing an SLBM capability is because it then complicates missile defenses.  It is hard to preposition radars and launchers to protect assets when the missile can come from any direction from the sea instead of prepositioned locations within North Korea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPzTP3wiIyM

South Korea’s military said Saturday the latest video of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test released by the North earlier this week may have been manipulated.

“It is believed that North Korea’s SLBM ejection test video has been edited with images from a Scud missile ejection film made in the past,” a military official said, adding that the intention was to make the test seem successful.

“In May last year, the North’s SLBM video showed a launch angle of 74 degrees. As the latest video showed an angle of 90 degrees, it is possible that North Korea’s technology has improved to some extent,” the official added. North Korea also claimed then it had successfully carried out an underwater SLBM test.

A new documentary aired by the state-run (North) Korean Central Broadcasting Station on Friday featured leader Kim Jong-un giving field guidance during an SLBM ejection test the country is reported to have conducted on Dec. 21 in the East Sea.

In the video, a missile shoots off from a submarine at almost a completely vertical angle and ignites with a boom some 40 meters above the surface of the water before disappearing into the clouds.  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link.