The two experts judged the missile’s engines to be liquid fueled and said that if its first stage contained four engines, the missile cou...
The two experts judged the missile’s engines to be liquid fueled and said that if its first stage contained four engines, the missile could “in principle” deliver up to nearly four tons of payload “at no cost”. any point in the continental United States.” Its lifting power, they added, would thus be “much greater” than that of the Hwasong-15 – previously the highest performing ICBM in North Korea, tested in November 2017.
In an interview, Van Diepen said he was surprised by Washington’s characterization of the missile as a new ICBM, as it reached maximum heights of just 385 and 350 miles, respectively, during its first and first tests. second day of this year. In an articlehe had called it a medium-range missile.
In contrast, the Hwasong-15, on its one and only test flight, flew at an altitude of 2,780 miles, according to the North Koreans.
Mr Van Diepen said while Washington’s ICBM analysis was correct for the new missile, it was well below its capabilities, perhaps as part of a cautious approach to engine testing. “Maybe it wasn’t fully fueled or they cut the engines,” he said.
Still, if further flight tests prove it to be the same missile that made its public debut in 2020 at the military parade, Van Diepen said, it would represent a formidable addition to the expanding arsenal. of North Korea. For example, his vast lifting power would theoretically allow him to lift multiple nuclear warheads at once, greatly increasing his destructive power.
“This is another potential threat to the homeland,” he said. “But they have a long way to go” to perfect its hundreds of systems and prove its ability to send a warhead that easily accelerates through space, then takes the jolt of fiery atmospheric re-entry toward a target on the ground.
To date, Van Diepen said, “they haven’t tested any full-range ICBMs yet, so by definition they haven’t confirmed that their warheads could survive re-entry.”
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