North Korea is on a missile-testing binge again. On Monday, Pyongyang held its third test-firing of a rocket from Wonsan, a town in the country’s east coast. However, besides the test-firing frenzy, what is more alarming is the order by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to mass produce the missile.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea did not identify the type of missile. But The Drive identified the surface-to-air missile launched by Pyongyang as a KN-06. It is also known as Pongae-5 which is based on the HQ-9, based on a Chinese system which, in turn, is based on the Sre-300 air defense system of Russia.
Still under testing to some degree
The Drive noted that the KN-06 was first announced almost seven years ago. It is still in testing to some degree. The purpose of its planned mass production is to completely spoil the “wild dream” of the enemy, which refers to the U.S., to command the air. The Pentagon, according to the KCNA, the North Korean state-controlled media, is only boasting of being supreme in the air and having powerful weapons.
On Monday, Pyongyang said the country successfully tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile. The rocket met all technical requirements and could be mass produced, Reuters reported. In mid-May, Kim Jong-un made a similar order for the mass production and wide-scale deployment of a KN-15 road-mobile intermediate-range ballistic missile.
Tracks 12 and engage 6 targets
The Drive added that the KN-06 is apparently an indigenous version of the 5N63 “Flap Lid,” a mobile phased array radar. Its capabilities are similar to later versions of the S-300P SAM system. The latest version is capable of tracking 12 targets and engaging six, while the older version could track and engage only four targets at the same time.
While its range is uncertain, estimated place it between 60 and 90 miles.
According to the U.S. Pacific Command, it tracked a short-range missile for six minutes. The missile landed in the Sea of Japan, Chicago Sun Times reported. In response to the test-firing, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Pyongyang’s provocation is absolutely unacceptable as he pointed out that the communist state ignored repeated warnings from the international society.
If North Korea continues to ignore the warnings, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis predicted the worst kind of fighting in most people’s lives if it should lead to a war. If the situation could not be solved through diplomatic methods, it would be a catastrophic war, he stressed.
