North Korea Flight Tests New Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile
Pentagon: KN-11 missile test fired from floating platformNorth Korea conducted the first flight test of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile last month, defense officials said this week.
The flight test of what the Pentagon is calling the KN-11 missile took place Jan. 23 off the coast of North Korea from a sea-based platform—not a submarine—located off the coast of the communist state, said officials familiar with reports of the flight test.
U.S. intelligence ships and aircraft monitored the test and tracked the successful missile firing.
Additional details of the flight test could not be learned. A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the test, citing the sensitivity of information about North Korea’s SLBM program.
The flight test followed a land-based ejection test of the KN-11 in November from a static launcher located at the North’s Sinpo South Shipyard in November. Sinpo is a port city on North Korea’s southeastern coast about 100 miles from the Demilitarized Zone separating North Korea from rival South Korea.
The flight test is being viewed by U.S. intelligence analysts as a significant step forward for Pyongyang’s submarine-launched ballistic missile program. The new program was first disclosed by the Washington Free Beacon Aug. 26.
Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Vincent R. Stewart, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told the House Armed Services Committee Feb. 3 that North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs “pose a serious threat to the U.S. and regional allies.”
“Pyongyang maintains that nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities are essential to ensure its sovereignty,” Stewart said in a prepared statement.
“Because of its conventional military deficiencies, the DPRK [North Korea] also has concentrated on improving its deterrence capabilities, especially its nuclear technology and ballistic missile forces.”
Stewart added that DIA is concerned North Korea will conduct a fourth underground nuclear test in the future.
The DIA director’s testimony made no mention of the SLBM program. But he said: “Pyongyang also is making efforts to expand and modernize its deployed missile forces consisting of close-, short-, medium-, and intermediate-range systems.”
“It seeks to develop longer-range ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons to the United States and continues efforts to bring its KN-08 road-mobile ICBM to operational capacity.
Other analysts assess the SLBM missile will be developed as a nuclear delivery system for Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal. A submarine-launched nuclear missile would add a more-difficult target to U.S. regional deterrence and missile defenses.
Since the SLBM program was disclosed last year, South Korea’s government has confirmed the program.
Rick Fisher, a senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, said the use of a floating launch platform indicates the KN-11 could be launched from a military or commercial ship as well as from a submarine.
Platform test launches also indicate that the weapon is in an early stage of development and is not ready to be launched from a submerged submarine.
“For Pyongyang, using the KN-11 from ships as well as submarines rapidly increases the number of potential launch platforms, as it also complicates U.S. and allied efforts to monitor a new North Korean missile threat,” Fisher said.
“Firing the KN-11 from a floating platform is still useful, as it
North Korea obtained from Russia SS-N-6 submarine-launched ballistic missiles several years ago. The missile was adapted to North Korea’s Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile.
North Korea also has six KN-08 road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles that were developed with launchers supplied by China.
The submarine North Korea plans to deploy the KN-11 on is not known.
North Korea obtained several decommissioned Soviet-era Golf II ballistic-missile submarines in the early 1990s.
Pyongyang may seek to copy or adapt the design of the Golf II for an indigenous missile submarine.
In another development, North Korea’s state-run news media reported Feb. 7 that the country’s military conducted a test firing of a precision-guided anti-ship cruise missile.
In addition, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un recently toured several military units and urged troops to be fully prepared for combat.
Some 20 U.S. Marines and 200 South Korean Marines conducted joint maritime infiltration exercises near the South’s border islands with North Korea on Feb. 10.
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/no...listic-missile/ You typed way too long. North korea would have been defeated and seized by south korea in 1953 if it wasn't china crying foul and threatened to use nuke.
Same thing today, if south korean attack north korean army without US involvement, china will still cry foul. Without north korea in between china has phobia of american troops able to land their massive forces in north korea and easily cross into china.
North korean forces only have lousy outdated 1950's weapons that can be easily destroyed by korean k2, f15k, ships, etc.
Military Thread V15, Gong Xi Fa Cai; Huat ah 
Feb 19 2015, 12:50 PM
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