North Korea Launches Cruise Missiles From Submarine The New York Times

Table Of Content

• Finding Its Target
• North Korea Launches Cruise Missiles from Sinpo-Class Submarine
• More Projects
• Tomahawk missile variants
• The US is building a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile. Congress must make sure it’s built right.
• Signaling with Submarines
• France’s 2nd Suffren-class Nuclear Powered Submarine Enters Service

But everything has to function perfectly for the missile to hit a target, and a glitch at any stage can be disastrous. Malicious software, or even hardware which interferes with the missile controls, is a cheap way of disabling a nuclear deterrent. As the missile approaches, it ejects twelve independent warheads at different targets. Each warhead has a yield of 100 kilotons—six times greater than the Hiroshima bomb.

Finding Its Target

Nuclear-propelled submarines can quietly travel long distances and approach enemy shores to deliver strikes, which would bolster Kim’s declared aim of building a nuclear arsenal that could viably threaten the U.S. mainland. But experts say such vessels are most likely unfeasible for the North without external assistance in the near term. Because of the internal guidance system's limits, Trident also has a star sighting navigation system.

Attack Submarines - SSN > United States Navy > Displayy-FactFiles - navy.mil

Attack Submarines - SSN > United States Navy > Displayy-FactFiles.

Posted: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

North Korea Launches Cruise Missiles from Sinpo-Class Submarine

Code-named Freedom Shield, the drill, one of the biggest the two allies have planned for this year, will involve large numbers of troops, including a simulated storming of a beach. During this phase, the missile extends anaerodynamic spike to smooth the airflow over the blunt-nosed cylinder. Without this spike, the missile can't survive its brief, high-speed transit through the atmosphere. Trident's first test launch from the USS Tennessee in 1989 failed because the plume of water trailing behind the missile interfered with a rocket nozzle. The resulting asymmetric thrust sent the missile spiraling in a spectacular pinwheel lasting four seconds before ending in a shower of flaming debris.

More Projects

Nuclear modernization is a priority for the Department of Defense—there is no doubt about that. But the addition of another nuclear acquisition program will further strain management, funding, and attention. Ensuring no harm is done to schedules for the ongoing nuclear modernization programs must be a priority. These capabilities, coupled with robust intelligence gathering and task force command-level secure communications, give SSGNs carrier-like abilities when a carrier is not available. SSGNs also offer logistical advantages compared to a carrier strike group, such as quicker deployment and concealment of their whereabouts—though as noted above, the Pentagon will sometimes publicize a submarine deployment to achieve the same deterrent effects as a carrier presence. Still, it would take considerable time, resources and technological improvements for the heavily sanctioned nation to build a fleet of at least several submarines that could travel quietly and execute attacks reliably, analysts say.

Tomahawk missile variants

These vessels are considered key tools of strategic deterrence and part of the U.S. nuclear triad, and they do not often patrol in the Middle East. The move was interpreted as a message to Russian president Vladimir Putin (who had recently threatened to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine) and Iran (which had been supplying Moscow with suicide drones for use in Ukraine, and possibly short-range ballistic missiles as well). The launch, North Korea’s sixth missile test this year, marked the first time the North had tested cruise missiles from a submarine. The country last launched a short-range ballistic missile from a submarine on May 7 off its east coast. But analysts have said intermediate-range cruise missiles were no less a threat than ballistic missiles and are a serious capability for North Korea. North Korea's cruise missiles are typically less controversial and are not explicitly banned under U.N.

The US is building a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile. Congress must make sure it’s built right.

The earliest versions of this technology—such as what went into the Nazi V-1 and V-2s, proto-cruise missiles used to bomb London—were used as a design starting point. These missiles had a range of just a few hundred miles, which meant you needed an aircraft or ship to carry them within range. A submarine with a capable missile carrier would be the perfect weapon, able to get weapons of mass destruction within incredibly close range of the enemy without being detected. A $25.9m contract for Tomahawk missile composite capsule launching systems (C/CLS) was awarded in December 2014. The C/CLS is integrated with the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines and nuclear-powered guided-missile submarines, allowing the missile to be launched from submarines. Central Command chief Gen. Michael Kurilla was given a tour of the ballistic missile submarine USS West Virginia in the Arabian Sea.

Tomahawk Block IV missile demonstrated its moving target capability in tests conducted in February 2015. The US Navy awarded a $251m contract to Raytheon for the production and delivery of Tomahawk Block IV missiles for both the US Navy and Royal Navy in September 2014. Raytheon was awarded a $207m-worth firm-fixed-price contract in March 2009 for 207 Tomahawk Block IV All-Up-Round (AUR) missiles.

About MBDA’s Naval Cruise Missile

With their long range and high precision, they are useful for taking on highly defended targets, and a salvo of cruise missiles will typically be fired to suppress defenses ahead of a strike by manned aircraft. On occasion, as in the 2018 strikes on Syria, they are used as a low-cost, low-risk alternative to airstrikes. The Oscar class, Soviet designations Project 949 Granit and Project 949A Antey (NATO reporting names Oscar I and Oscar II respectively), are a series of nuclear-powered cruise missile submarines designed in the Soviet Union for the Soviet Navy. Two other vessels were slated to be modernized since at least 2017 as Project 949AM, to extend their service life and increase combat capabilities but it is unclear whether work continues as of 2023. North Korea in 2023 launched what it called its first operational nuclear attack submarine, which analysts said appeared to be modified from an existing submarine and likely designed to carry ballistic and cruise missiles.

France’s 2nd Suffren-class Nuclear Powered Submarine Enters Service

The Grayback class of submarines were subsequently built to launch missiles from the surface. Raytheon was awarded a $346m production contract for 473 Tomahawk Block IV cruise missiles in March 2006. The contract includes 65 submarine torpedo tube-launched missiles for the Royal Navy.

State news agency KCNA and official Rodong Sinmun newspaper said the missiles flew above the sea off the country's east coast for 7,421 seconds and 7,445 seconds and hit an unspecified island target, indicating the flight time exceeded two hours. There are forces at play—bureaucratic, budgetary, and programmatic—that could stymie the SLCM-N if Congress does not keep an eye on its progress and, at times, push its development in certain directions. For example, US lawmakers should press officials to examine the suitability of existing missiles, or those under development, as starting points to build from. Likewise, Congress should ensure that the Department of Defense does not generate such onerous military requirements for the SLCM-N that the perfect becomes the enemy of the good. Despite making overtures to American partners in the Gulf, Iran is still committed to pushing the United States out of the region and posing a clear and present danger to its forces in Syria and elsewhere. It has also been developing “anti-carrier” capabilities in the form of antiship homing ballistic missiles with a claimed range of up to 2,000 km.

MBDA has developed the NCM (Naval Cruise Missile) to meet the requirement issued by the French Ministry of Defence for a long-range cruise missile capable of being launched from surface and subsurface vessels. This French programme is known as MdCN or Missile de Croisière Naval, intended for the French Navy’s FREMM frigates and the Barrracuda submarine. Leader Kim Jong Un supervised the test of the missile, called Pulhwasal-3-31, which is identical to the strategic cruise missiles that the North said last week were under development. Experts claim that this launch somehow confirmed North Korea’s formidable will to obtain different launching platforms to fortify its abilities to bypass detections from Seoul, as South Korea still heavily relies on its ally, the U.S., when it comes to missile detection and intelligence. When fully submerged, Sinpo-class submarines can travel relatively long distance and reliably execute precision strikes against strategic US bases in Indo-Pacific region – namely Guam and even Hawaii.

The U.S. Navy has never fired a GPS-equipped Trident, largely out of fear of possible GPS tampering. It takes a lot of engineering and rocket science to ensure a missile gets from an underwater launch tube to streaking through low-Earth orbit at more than 13,000 mph—and sometimes, that delicate dance of physics can go wrong. Mr Kim separately inspected the construction of a nuclear submarine and discussed issues related to the manufacturing of other types of new warships, KCNA said but gave no details. Mr Kim called the test a success, KCNA said, “which is of strategic significance in carrying out the plan...for modernising the army which aims at building a powerful naval force”. The two-way satellite communications are used to perform post-launch mission changes throughout the flight. The on-board camera provides imagery of the target to the commanders before the strike.

The missile's accuracy is quoted asless than 400 feet Circular Error Probable (CEP), meaning there is a 50 percent chance it will land less than 400 feet from the target. It can be armed with a nuclear or unitary warhead or a conventional submunitions dispenser with combined-effect bomblets. The upgraded Tomahawk includes extended range, enhanced navigation and communication systems and modernised data-link radio.

Instead, the missile allegedlyveered east toward the U.S. before it was destroyed. Raytheon received a $349m contract for phase two of the Maritime Strike Tomahawk Rapid Deployment Capability to improve the Tomahawk cruise missile system in August 2019. The US signed a foreign military sales (FMS) agreement with the UK in 1995 to supply 65 Tomahawks for use with the Royal Navy nuclear submarines. RGM / UGM-109C (Block III TLAM-C) is a conventional unitary variant, carrying a 1,000lb-class warhead.

French Navy vessels can thus strike targets of major interest from a long distance, and with high precision. According to the French Navy, this action makes it possible to elevate France’s military posture from the first moments of a crisis, thus influencing the will of competitors. Kim issued similar comments about a nuclear-armed navy in September while attending the launching ceremony of what the North described as a new submarine capable of firing tactical nuclear weapons from underwater.