标题: Missile Development in South Korea [打印本页] 作者: choi 时间: 5-30-2012 15:05 标题: Missile Development in South Korea Bradley Perrett, Beyond the Peninsula; South Korea is deploying weapons with ranges far greater than the length of North Korea. Aviation Week, May 21, 2012.
Quote:
"Its [S Korea's] ambiions for power-projection capability reaching far beyond the Korean peninsula are becoming increasingly obvious.
"The military last month announced deployment of two surface-to-surface weapons, one a cruise missile and the other ballistic. The cruise missile, which must be the previously reported Hyunmu 3C, has a world-class precision, good enough to fly through a window, says Major Gen Shin Won-sik, director general of planning at the defense ministry, who did not name either weapons.
"The road-mobile ballistic missile, presumably Hyunmu 2B, is suprior to the Lockheed Martin MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (Atacms), Shin told reporters, without eleborating.
"Both missiles are built by LIG Nex1 but were developed by the ministry's Agency for Defense Development, local media have reported. South Korean manufacturers shoulder much less development burden than their Western counterparts do. * * * the Chosun Ilbo newspaper says the weapon [2B] is capable of 500 km but is restricted to 300 km to comply with South Korea's commitment to the US not to deploy ballistic missile with greater range.
"It is unclear how that restriction is applied--for example, whether it is technical or procedural--and whether it can be quickly removed. If it can be dispensed with in a hurry, the question arises of whether South Korea really has a 500-km-range ballistic missile. The 33-year-old accord is part of US efforts at preventing the proliferation of land-attack missile technology and followed US insistence that South Korea end a 1870s nuclear weapons program. The agreement also limits South Korean ballistic missile warheads to 500 kg (1,100 lb), increasing the difficulty of fitting a nuclear payload.
"The US is close to agreeing to South Korea fielding ballistic missiles with ranges greater than 300 km, says President Lee Myung-bak. The limit was 180 km until 2001, when the nation acceded to the Missile Technology Control Regime.
"It is unusual for the South Korean military to discuss missile programs, as Shin now has. However, considerable details of land-attack missiles have been leaked in fragmentary local media reports over the years. While Aviation Week has been unable to verify those reports, they have consistently appeared in authorative South Korean media as obviously deliberate leaks, attributed to such sources as military officers. No single report has had great detail but, sifted and collated, they reveal a startlingly ambitious program.
"The existence--but not the source--of foreign help is acknowledged. Russia or other former members of the USSR seem to be likely partners. Hyunmu 2 looks much like the Russian Iskander short-range ballistic missile, one version of which can reach 500 km.
"Three South Korean land-to-land cruise missiles are known from the leaks. They are apparently related to each other and have been fielded successively as Hyunmu 3A, 3B and 3C, with ranges of, respectively, 500 km, 1,000 km and 1,500 km. The Tomahawk TLAM Block II can fly 2,500 km. A fourth South Korean cruise missile, under development, is supersonic, though it is unclear whether it is intended for land attack [or anti-ship]
"Almost all of Japan and many of China's largest cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, would be within range of Hyunmu 3C.
"The missile [3C] is supposed to have an accuracy of 1-2 meters. Its predecessor, Hyunmu 3B, is accurate to 5 meters
"Like Tomahawk, Hyunmu 3C has reportedly been designed for launch from submarines and surface ships, but South Korea also has a naval land-attack missile called Cheonryong that has a range of more than 500 km; it may be related to Hyunmu 3.
"'Hyunmu' is the name of a mythical creature that defends the northern skies.
Note:
(a) hyunmu (hanja 漢字 is 玄武)
(i) Goguryeo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goguryeo
(37 BC-668 AD; The name Goguryeo 高句麗 was inherited by Goryeo 高麗 Dynasty (918-1392), from which the English word "Korea" stemmed; They [Goguryo people] also believed in the 'Sasin', who were 4 mythical animals. Chungryong (blue dragon) guarded the east, baek-ho (white tiger) guarded the west, jujak (red phoenix (bird)) guarded the south, and hyunmu (black turtle (sometimes with snakes for a tail)) guarded the north.