An expert’s preliminary analysis of North Korea’s new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) cited by Yonhap news agency says that the new ICBM, which was unveiled at the 75th anniversary parade of the founding of the Workers’ Party, weighs about 100 tons and would be difficult to load onto a mobile launch vehicle (TEL) and transport to the launch site. As such, the missile may be a “physical model” intended as a show of force.
According to South Korean experts cited by Yonhap News Agency today, North Korea’s new missile may weigh 100 tons, making it difficult to carry. Korea Aerospace University Professor Jang Young-gun on the 16th sent to Yonhap News Agency in a preliminary analysis of the results, presumably the new intercontinental ballistic missile is about 23 meters long, 2.3 to 2.4 meters in diameter, two boosters using liquid propellant. The fact that the new missile is being carried on an 11-axis mobile launcher means that its weight is significantly higher than that of the Mars-15, and it will weigh about 100 tons when carrying liquid propellant. In view of this, it is quite difficult to transport it to the launch site with a mobile launcher, so it is more suitable for a fixed missile silo.
Jang said that the new ICBM appears to be a multi-warhead missile, but it is still unknown whether the DPRK has achieved the lighter weight of the warhead bus (PBV) required for a multi-warhead ICBM. He pointed out that North Korea’s official media do not use the name Mars-16, which presumably means that the new missile is not yet at the level of multiple-missile-missile warhead technology (MIRV).
According to the report, Jang also noted that North Korea’s new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) is 1 meter shorter than the Polaris-3, at 7.2-8 meters in length, but still 1.6-1.7 meters in diameter, and appears to be in the operational deployment or test-fire phase.
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