– This type of equipment in itself is no better than an ordinary bomber on a truck, but its very existence causes additional headaches for South Korean planners and United States of America. Now they have to consider launchers on the tracks, missile weapons analyst Ankit Panda told nknews.org. korea night.
From trucks to trains
The test launch took place on the morning of September 15 local time. The statement issued on the occasion was mostly plain propaganda and stylized language in the North Korean style. However, it does contain some information. The official decision to create the “Mobile Railway Missile Regiment” was to be taken earlier this year during the Eighth Congress of the North Korean Workers’ Party. The launch was due to take place from the “central mountainous region” and the missile flew 800 km and fell into the sea. The test was to be overseen by Park Jong-chun, secretary of the Central Committee of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, a senior member of North Korea’s ruling elite. For some reason it wasn’t the tribal leader himself, Kim Jong Un.
It was not clear from the announcement how many missiles had actually been launched. as army South Korea and North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles at midday on Wednesday. They had to take off from the center of the country and fall into the sea. No other tests have been recorded in recent days, so it’s likely the test that uses the train.
Along with the announcement, a series of images have been provided in which you can learn more. The launcher missile (missiles?) is apparently the KN-23. A short-range, solid-fuel ballistic missile. Something in the class corresponds to the Russian Iskander missiles, known in Poland, which are very similar to the North Korean missile outside. KN-23 first Once It was introduced in 2018, so it’s one of the newest in North Korea’s missile arsenal. To date, it has been shown on mobile launchers in the form of trucks.
The pictures also show the train itself, although that’s a lot to say. Two-car locomotive. One is probably empty and the other is a launcher. You can see that it has a sliding roof and large doors on the sides. The rocket starts with its engines inside the vehicle, which should be a serious test of endurance for him. In the most famous Soviet missile train, na addition Much larger, they were thrown from the starting container over the wagon and only then did they start the engines.
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Train rockets are an old idea
North Korea’s missile depot doesn’t seem like anything complicated, but it’s about it, too. This is another relatively cheap way to hide and launch ballistic missiles. North Korea is a mountainous country with a relatively developed railway network with many tunnels. While South Korea, Japan, and the United States thus far have had to worry mainly about monitoring a few very large and weak stationary launchers, perhaps one primitive submarine, and a large number of launchers on trucks, now it is a matter of monitoring railways and trains. North Korea will surely produce many of them, civilize them, and try to make detection and tracking difficult. Thus, you will increase the survivability of your missile arsenal. In the demo version, this was explicitly mentioned as the main purpose of having railway launchers.
To date, the USSR has invested only in such weapons. In the 80s, several trains were built with three RT-23 trains in each. It was more advanced and sophisticated equipment than North Korea had provided. Soviet missile trains were self-contained units that patrolled for a week, running along the Soviet railway network without a clear plan. This was to make the US more difficult to track down and increase the chances of surviving a potential surprise nuclear attack. In general, the trains were successful, despite the large length of the rocket wagons (25 m) and a higher than usual axle load, they very quickly consumed the railways on which they usually traveled.
All missile trains were decommissioned by 2005 because costs and the nuclear arsenal had to be cut under the disarmament treaties. Ten years later, the intention was announced to revive them with a newer version and with new missiles. The project was named Bagruzin, but there is no information that it has passed the stage of the initial concept. Most likely, it was suspended due to costs.
The Americans thought of a similar system twice. First, in the 1960s, they conducted train trials of Minuteman ICBMs. After a few years, the program was closed due to the cost-effect relationship. It was decided that it was better to build more standard silos underground. In the 1980s, the newer Biskeber racket (also known as the MX) was tried again, but with the same effect. Before the end of the Cold War and money, several locomotives and one launcher were equipped.
Everything seems to indicate that North Korea will so far be the only country with such weapons.
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