KREUZADER (Posts tagged north korea)

1.5M ratings
277k ratings

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
The CNS North Korea Missile Test Database“ The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies North Korea Missile Test Database is the first database to record flight tests of all missiles launched by North Korea capable of delivering a payload of...

The CNS North Korea Missile Test Database

The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies North Korea Missile Test Database is the first database to record flight tests of all missiles launched by North Korea capable of delivering a payload of at least 500 kilograms (1102.31 pounds) a distance of at least 300 kilometers (186.4 miles). The database captures advancements in North Korea’s missile program by documenting all such tests since the first one occurred in April 1984, and will be routinely updated as events warrant.

Source: nti.org
north korea missiles
How North Korea Analysts Uncover the Hermit Kingdom’s Secrets“We’d like to tell you a story of real-life wizardry from one of our favorite groups of real-life wizards: open-source North Korea analysts. David Schmerler works at the Middlebury...

How North Korea Analysts Uncover the Hermit Kingdom’s Secrets

We’d like to tell you a story of real-life wizardry from one of our favorite groups of real-life wizards: open-source North Korea analysts.

David Schmerler works at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, where he and others use publicly available information to study North Korea’s politics and weapons programs. He also possesses fearsome powers.

The story we wish to recount occurred in July 2016, when North Korea tested three medium-range ballistic missiles from an undisclosed location.

Source: The New York Times
north korea
COULD CYBER ATTACKS DEFEAT NORTH KOREAN MISSILE TESTS? “If the Musudan indeed is based on the R-27/SS-N-6, the chances are high that the original guidance system of this missile was also used for the Musudan, which means Soviet technology from the...

COULD CYBER ATTACKS DEFEAT NORTH KOREAN MISSILE TESTS?

If the Musudan indeed is based on the R-27/SS-N-6, the chances are high that the original guidance system of this missile was also used for the Musudan, which means Soviet technology from the nineteen sixties, which would have been mechanical and therefore “hack-proof”.

Even if the DPRK uses a modern guidance system on the Musudan, it is doubtful that the United States would have had access to the guidance software and be able to plant a code in there. And missiles do not have an USB port that you can use to infect their computer via USB stick, or just connect from a distance via Bluetooth.  Such an insertion would have to be highly targeted, specific to the design and software used in the DPRK’s laboratory, and able to circumvent all the obvious countermeasures and barriers that would stand in the way of such an effort in the first place.  Such a combination strains credulity.

Source: nautilus.org
north korea
North Korea’s April 5 Missile Launch“North Korea launched a missile from its east coast into the Sea of Japan at 6:12 am local time on April 5 (5:42 pm on April 4 US eastern time). US Pacific Command initially identified it as a KN-15 missile, called...

North Korea’s April 5 Missile Launch

North Korea launched a missile from its east coast into the Sea of Japan at 6:12 am local time on April 5 (5:42 pm on April 4 US eastern time).

US Pacific Command initially identified it as a KN-15 missile, called Pukguksong-2 in North Korea, which is a two stage solid-fueled missile with an estimated range of 1,200 km based on its previous test in February.

Subsequently, however, Pacific Command said it believed the missile was instead an older Scud, and that it may have tumbled, or “pinwheeled,” during flight.

South Korean sources reported the missile flew only about 60 km before splashing down, and reached a maximum altitude of 189 km. And based on Pacific Command’s statement, the flight time was eight to nine minutes.

Source: allthingsnuclear.org
north korea rocket
North Korea Is Practicing for Nuclear War “In recent years, however, North Korea has started launching Scuds and No-dongs from different locations all over the damn country. These aren’t missile tests, they are military exercises. North Korea knows...

North Korea Is Practicing for Nuclear War

In recent years, however, North Korea has started launching Scuds and No-dongs from different locations all over the damn country. These aren’t missile tests, they are military exercises. North Korea knows the missiles work. What the military units are doing now is practicing — practicing for a nuclear war.

The North Koreans haven’t exactly been coy about this. Last year, North Korea tested a No-dong missile. Afterward, North Korea published a map showing that the missile was fired to a point at sea that was the exact range as South Korea’s port city of Busan, with an arc running from the target into the ocean, down to Busan. In case you missed the map, the North Koreans spelled it out: “The drill was conducted by limiting the firing range under the simulated conditions of making preemptive strikes at ports and airfields in the operational theater in South Korea where the U.S. imperialists’ nuclear war hardware is to be hurled.”

Source: foreignpolicy.com
north korea nuclear weapons nuclear war
Trump Inherits a Secret Cyberwar Against North Korean Missiles “WASHINGTON — Three years ago, President Barack Obama ordered Pentagon officials to step up their cyber and electronic strikes against North Korea’s missile program in hopes of sabotaging...

Trump Inherits a Secret Cyberwar Against North Korean Missiles

WASHINGTON — Three years ago, President Barack Obama ordered Pentagon officials to step up their cyber and electronic strikes against North Korea’s missile program in hopes of sabotaging test launches in their opening seconds.

[…]

The decision to intensify the cyber and electronic strikes, in early 2014, came after Mr. Obama concluded that the $300 billion spent since the Eisenhower era on traditional antimissile systems, often compared to hitting “a bullet with a bullet,” had failed the core purpose of protecting the continental United States. Flight tests of interceptors based in Alaska and California had an overall failure rate of 56 percent, under near-perfect conditions. Privately, many experts warned the system would fare worse in real combat.

So the Obama administration searched for a better way to destroy missiles. It reached for techniques the Pentagon had long been experimenting with under the rubric of “left of launch,” because the attacks begin before the missiles ever reach the launchpad, or just as they lift off. For years, the Pentagon’s most senior officers and officials have publicly advocated these kinds of sophisticated attacks in little-noticed testimony to Congress and at defense conferences.

Source: The New York Times
north korea nuclear weapons cyberwar
What One Photo Tells Us About North Korea’s Nuclear Program“Images like this one might look silly, but they are rich with insights into the country’s military and politics. By using high-tech forensics and traditional detective work, analysts and...

What One Photo Tells Us About North Korea’s Nuclear Program

Images like this one might look silly, but they are rich with insights into the country’s military and politics. By using high-tech forensics and traditional detective work, analysts and intelligence agencies can use photos to track North Korea’s internal politics and expanding weapons programs with stunning granularity.

Several experts walked us through this photo of Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s leader, unveiling what he claimed was a new nuclear device. But the image, from March 2016, may show more than Mr. Kim intended: the possible range of the missile behind him, his relationship with the military, even his precise location.

Source: The New York Times
north korea nuclear weapons
It Wasn’t an ICBM, But North Korea’s First Missile Test of 2017 Is a Big Deal“The missile North Korea launched on Sunday morning — its first test of 2017 — was at first unknown, but has since been revealed as the Pukkuksong-2 (Polaris-2), an...

It Wasn’t an ICBM, But North Korea’s First Missile Test of 2017 Is a Big Deal

The missile North Korea launched on Sunday morning — its first test of 2017 — was at first unknown, but has since been revealed as the Pukkuksong-2 (Polaris-2), an intermediate-range, land-based variant of the solid-fueled Pukkuksong-1 (KN-11) submarine-launched ballistic missile. Even though Sunday’s test didn’t feature North Korea’s still-untested intercontinental ballistic missiles, the unveiling of the Pukkuksong-2 is deeply significant and represents an intensification of the threat represented by North Korea’s parallel nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

Source: thediplomat.com
north korea nuclear weapons
OSINT Brief for PEOTUS“North Korea spent 2016 demonstrating new and sometimes surprising capabilities. They don’t always tell the truth, but frequently they do. […] Ok, so they have the engines, and probably the fuel and heat shield for their ICBM....

OSINT Brief for PEOTUS

North Korea spent 2016 demonstrating new and sometimes surprising capabilities. They don’t always tell the truth, but frequently they do.

[…]

Ok, so they have the engines, and probably the fuel and heat shield for their ICBM. They are also parading around a spooky disco-ball which fits nice and snug in the tip of the thing. What next? Flight tests.

Source: armscontrolwonk.com
north korea nuclear weapons trump
“ North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Sunday that the isolated, nuclear-capable country was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). North Korea tested ballistic missiles at an unprecedented rate during 2016, although...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Sunday that the isolated, nuclear-capable country was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

North Korea tested ballistic missiles at an unprecedented rate during 2016, although some experts have said it is years away from developing an ICBM fitted with a nuclear warhead capable of reaching the United States.

“Research and development of cutting edge arms equipment is actively progressing and ICBM rocket test launch preparation is in its last stage,” Kim said during a televised New Year’s Day speech.

Source: reuters.com
north korea nuclear weapons
armscontrolwonk.com

New DPRK ICBM Engine

We’ve previously considered the possibility that North Korea might cluster 4D10 engines in an ICBM, but clustering 4D10 engines implied a level of sophistication we had not previously observed in North Korea’s missile programs.  Well, I guess there is a first time for everything.

So what?

The KN-08 and KN-14 are far more capable than more conservative estimates that assume a pair of Nodong engines. The range/payload curve for these missile will jump. John is going to rerun his models, but I would expect the range of the revised KN-08/KN-14 family will now fall at the upper end of his estimates.  That means that, rather than simply hitting the West Coast, an operational North Korean ICBM could probably reach targets throughout the United States, including Washington, DC with a nuclear weapon.  In other words, the Map of Death is real.

north korea nuclear weapons
armscontrolwonk.com

The Range of North Korean ICBMs

News reports persistently describe North Korea’s three-stage space launcher, the Taepodong-2 (TD-2), as capable of delivering a reasonably sized warhead to Alaska or maybe to the western continental United States. But at least if we go by the official, unclassified, publicly released estimate of the U.S. government, that’s wrong! The TD-2 can range all of the USA, from sea to shining sea.

[…]

It probably doesn’t help that the U.S. government no longer spells out these sorts of estimates. Anonymous officials ascribed this choice back in May to both the bad aftertaste of the Iraq WMD debacle and what reporters called “an effort to avoid strengthening and encouraging Mr. Kim.”  The U.S. Air Force’s National Air and Space Intelligence Center does periodically release a document on missile threats, but it coyly offers a range of “5,500+” km for the TD-2, alluding to the lower bound of what defines an ICBM.

Lest this silence engender any doubts—has that 1999 estimate changed, perhaps?—after this February’s launch, the semi-official South Korean news agency described the TD-2 as having a range of 12,000 km if used as a missile.  Give or take a kilometer or two, that’s the distance from North Korea’s east-coast launch site to downtown Miami.

north korea nuclear weapons