North Korea Tests Possible "Carrier Killer" Missile

Photo credit: KCNA photo.
Photo credit: KCNA photo.

From Popular Mechanics

Making good on its promise to conduct one missile test per week, North Korea on Sunday launched a new missile, one that analysts believe is being prepped to attack American aircraft carriers. The missile, known to the Pentagon as the KN-17, is probably meant strike moving targets. The KN-17 was first spotted in the April 15 parade marking the birthday of North Korea's founder Kim Il-sung and is believed to be the country's attempt at fielding an anti-ship ballistic missile (ABSM).

China recently made waves with its first operational ABSM, the DF-21D medium range ballistic missile. Launched from a truck-like launch vehicle, the DF-21D's warhead is designed to streak down from low-earth orbit at Mach 10, penetrating the flight deck of an aircraft carrier and causing massive damage. Here's a video of the actual test conducted this weekend:

South Korean experts believe the KN-17 is North Korea's attempt to field a similar weapon. The vehicle appears similar to the Hwasong-6, a modified Scud missile of Pyongyang's own design. Hwasong-6 has an estimated range of 310 miles and can be armed with 2,000-lb. high explosive, cluster, or chemical warheads. The KN-17 could be armed with a nuclear warhead although it doesn't necessarily need one. That's because a 2,000-lb. object traveling at Mach 10 would transfer massive kinetic energy to whatever it hits, perhaps fatally wounding even something as large as a 100,000-ton aircraft carrier.

Unlike other missiles in the North Korean arsenal, the KN-17 has fins located on the nose of the missile. These are similar to (and may be the same as) the fins on Maneuvering Reentry Vehicle (MaRV) warheads, which are designed to make course corrections to the warhead on reentry. Only a moving target would need a MaRV warhead, which makes U.S. Navy ships, and aircraft carriers in particular, the likely targets. As the North Korean ABSM warhead reenters Earth's atmosphere, onboard or nearby sensors would provide last-minute targeting information, allowing it to make critical course corrections to hit the target.

Photo credit: Rodong Sinmun photo.
Photo credit: Rodong Sinmun photo.

North Korea's state newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, claimed the missile had a "precision guidance system" and that the test "aimed to verify the technical indices of new-type precision guided ballistic rocket capable of making ultra-precision strike on the enemies' objects at any area." Intriguingly, the paper claims that the missile "correctly hit a designated target point with deviation of seven meters after flying at the medium range." This is extraordinarily accurate, if true, on par with targeting data from the Global Positioning System.

Even if the KN-17 were perfected tomorrow, though, North Korea has a long way to go to actually make it work. An aircraft carrier moving at 40 miles an hour can be anywhere within a 251-square mile circle in just 60 minutes. Anti-ship ballistic missiles need what is called a "kill chain" consisting of surveillance radars, drones, satellites, airplanes, and ships equipped with radar and secure communications to ensure the detection and constant monitoring of enemy targets in wartime. Ideally, North Korea could use a stealthy, radar-equipped drone or a land-based over-the-horizon radar to detect a carrier strike group, provide targeting data at launch, and then updated target data to the MaRV in its final moments.

An American carrier strike group wouldn't be defenseless against a North Korean ABSM attack. With airborne refueling, a carrier could launch fighters from up to 500 miles off the North Korean coastline, keeping the big ship safely out of the KN-17's range. American forces would also take active measures to disrupt the kill chain, shooting down enemy drones and airplanes, sinking enemy ships, and jamming shore-based radars. If a KN-17 were detected inbound, U.S. Navy cruisers and destroyers would launch SM-3 Block IB ballistic missile interceptors (see video above) to shoot it down.

Still, if Pyongyang does get its "carrier killer" system up and running, it would be one of the country's most dangerous weapons and a challenge to U.S. naval supremacy.

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