FPI / April 10, 2024
Geostrategy-Direct
<span style="color: #808080;"><em>By</em></span><strong> <span style="color: #333399;">Richard Fisher</span></strong>
On April 2, North Korea for the first time tested a new mobile and solid fuel China-assisted intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) with a large hypersonic glide vehicle (HGV) warhead, revealed in North Korean state media images that same day.
North Korean state media also identified this missile as the Hwasong-16B.
A North Korean statement noted, “the missile reached its first peak at the height of 101.1 kilometers (just over 62.8 miles) and the second at 72.3 kilometers (close to 45 miles) while making a 1,000-km-long flight (just over 621 miles) as scheduled to accurately hit the waters of the East Sea of Korea – also known as the Sea of Japan.”
This IRBM-HGV has some pedigree but stands out as China’s latest contribution to the near complete evolution of North Korea missile arsenal from vulnerable liquid fueled missiles to more secure and concealable mobile solid fuel ballistic missiles.
The Hwasong-16B HGV warhead is clearly influenced if not copied from the design of the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force DF-17, a 3,000-kilometer range HGV equipped IRBM that entered Rocket Force units in 2019.
Both the DF-17 and the Hwasong-16B’s HGV warheads utilize a pointed flat fuselage with four small fins to enable maneuverability at hypersonic speeds, or the ability to evade or complicate interception by U.S. missile defenses.
An HGV warhead like that on the Hwasong-16B and DF-17 can also achieve considerable lift that significantly increases the range of the weapon system.
In addition, like most other recent North Korean solid fuel long range missiles, the Hwasong-16B uses a Chinese origin 14-wheel transporter erector launcher (TEL), that is at least designed by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) Sanjiang Special Vehicle Company, and likely produced in components in China and assembled in North Korea.
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