North Korea Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Orthan said:

The new NK icbm is huge.

The TEL that carries it is also huge. Its a 11 axis truck. Chinese/Russian ICBM TEL trucks dont exceed 8 axis. Does anyone knows if it was NK that developed it or china/russia/belarus sold them? and is it wise to use such a large truck?

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The North Koreans need to convert their missile systems to solid rockets. Then the missiles wouldn't be as large.
It is so big because it is a liquid fueled rocket with low propellant density. But for deterrence these systems are good enough.

In the past the North Koreans bought their large TELs from China.

gelgoog said:

The tank seems to have both Chinese and Russian design influence.

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One of the interesting things here, influence is influence (much of this influence can be attributed to solving similar problems), but NK actually has a fully independent tank design school by now(since Songun-915, at the very least).

Btw, this new one is really... interesting.
For instance, it clearly uses the old 115mm gun instead of 125mm one.

Gloire_bb said:

One of the interesting things here, influence is influence (much of this influence can be attributed to solving similar problems), but NK actually has a fully independent tank design school by now(since Songun-915, at the very least).

Btw, this new one is really... interesting.
For instance, it clearly uses the old 115mm gun instead of 125mm one.

Click to expand...

Yeah it seems to have a lower caliber gun. Plus it seems to have two anti-tank missiles on the side of the turret.
But the tank chassis seems large enough that it can probably fit a larger turret with a bigger gun.
I am most impressed by the suspension of the tank. The main chassis is also interesting but I have questions about the frontal armor with that large lower glacis and the engine powerpack. I mean North Korea isn't exactly well known for advanced diesel engine design.

It's a pretty bizarre parade, very different from previous ones. It actually reminds me of a less glamorous version of China's parade, with less goose-stepping and more neat marching.

Could it be Kim Jong Un is North Korea's Deng Xiaoping, and this is his first step in reforming the country?

I just thought about something. Would selling weapons to North Korea be a good counter to US selling to Taiwan? For example, for every F16 the US sells to Taiwan, China could sell 2 J10s to North Korea.

That would also force South Korea to side against arms sales to Taiwan, for their own interest.

Whatever North Koreans did, they did put freedom on solid fire, experiencing last couple of hours in western sites

gelgoog said:

The North Koreans need to convert their missile systems to solid rockets. Then the missiles wouldn't be as large.
It is so big because it is a liquid fueled rocket with low propellant density. But for deterrence these systems are good enough.

In the past the North Koreans bought their large TELs from China.

Click to expand...

Is it MIRVed?

Orthan said:

The new NK icbm is huge.

The TEL that carries it is also huge. Its a 11 axis truck. Chinese/Russian ICBM TEL trucks dont exceed 8 axis. Does anyone knows if it was NK that developed it or china/russia/belarus sold them? and is it wise to use such a large truck?

Click to expand...

It should be a modified variant from (万山特车) lines

So!
Summing up
-new hull with good era coverage. I mean completely new, it is completely different from both Songun and Chonma.
Engine is likely some part/evolution of v-46 family.

-completely new turret with 3 crew. I seriously suspect, that under outer sheeting there is something reminiscent of merkava turret. Reason: check roof era.

-115mm gun, for some reason w/o thermal sleeve. That doesn't inherently mean that gun is weak, btw.

-2 heavy ATGM as stock.

-full digital FCS with thermals, independent commander's sight and more. If thermals are locally sourced - that's huge.
First NK tank with them, by the way.

-APS(4xRadar, LWR, 4x3 interceptor rounds).

Hard to say what's real and what isn't here. NK isn't exactly known for 100% propaganda props, but what we see here is clearly...very ambitious.
I'd personally treat this as an attempt to keep up with k2. We shall see if it'll work.

Tank destroyer ?