North Korea Armes Forces: News

Interesting adaptation by north to modern warfare by potentially replacing most of its airforce with suicide drones - cheaper than planes and missiles and tougher for south to detect

https://www.google.com.au/amp/foreignpolicy.com/2014/11/12/kim-jong-uns-tin-can-air-force/amp/

They fly a preprogrammed route... they have no terminal guidance so even putting HE on board would not make much difference as accuracy would be poor and random.

Unless they use it to spread the plague or Ebola over SK cities or Japanese cities then these drones wont be a war winner.

Of course don't underestimate panic... simply saying they are carrying Ebola or the Black Plague could create some serious damage and a lot of money wasted to solve a problem that does not even exist... but then South Korea and Japan have been doing that for decades.

KCTV DPRK North Korea air defence system field test کره شمالی آزمایش سامانه پدافند هوایی


کره شمالی یک سامانه جدید پدافند هوایی آزمایش کرد
کره شمالی یک سامانه جدید پدافند هوایی با حضور رهبر این کشور آزمایش کرد.
به نوشته خبرگزاری رویترز به نقل از خبرگزاری حکومتی کره شمالی، روز یکشنبه (امروز) در حالی که کیم جونگ اون رهبر این کشور و مشاوران نظامی‌اش در حال نظاره بود، یک سیستم جدید پدافند هوایی آزمایش شد.
در ادامه خبرگزاری حکومتی کره شمالی تاکید داشت این سیستم که قابلیت آن تایید شد، باید به تولید انبوه برسد تا به سراسر کشور ارسال شود.
http://www.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13960307000603
Pyongyang, May 28 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, chairman of the DPRK State Affairs Commission and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army (KPA), watched the test of new-type anti-aircraft guided weapon system organized by the Academy of National Defence Science.

The respected Supreme Leader was told about the test program for new weapon system at the observation post before ordering the start of its test-fire.

Watching the successful test, he said ardently:

Seeing such a perfect new-type anti-aircraft guided weapon system, I miss the General more a lot. That weapon system is a posthumous one the development of which had been guided by him with much effort since the start. The General would have been very glad to see this perfect weapon system as he had put his heart and soul into the work to bolster up the state anti-aircraft capability until the last moments of his life.

He told KPA commanding officers and officials of the academy that the weapon system's efficiency to detect and track targets has remarkably improved and its hitting accuracy has also increased, compared with those of last year. Some defects in the weapon system, discovered last year, were perfectly overcome to stand the test, he said, adding: This weapon system, whose operation capability has been thoroughly verified, should be mass-produced to deploy in all over the country like forests so as to completely spoil the enemy's wild dream to command the air, boasting of air supremacy and weapon almighty.

He set forth highly important tasks for the strategy for development of modern anti-aircraft guided weapon system of Korean style.

Accompanying him were Hwang Pyong So, Ri Yong Gil, O Kum Chol, Kim Kwang Hyok, Ri Pyong Chol, Kim Jong Sik and Jong Sung Il. -0-
http://www.kcna.kp/kcna.user.special.getArticlePage.kcmsf

Tests of the new North Korean missile complex of coastal defense







http://bmpd.livejournal.com/2659883.html

Looks like BAL... (land based Kh-35 Uran)

KCTV DPRK North Korea liquid fuel IRBM Hwasong-12 شلیک موشک هواسانگ ۱۲ کره شمالی


North korea images of assembly & underground test miniaturized H-Bomb کره شمالی آزمایش بمب هیدرژنی

KCTV DPRK North Korea 107th anniversary parade Pyongyangمراسم صد و هفتمین سالگرد کره شمالی

Military parade in Pyongyang on February 8, 2018 in honor of the 70th anniversary of the Korean People's Army (PHOTOS)

https://bmpd.livejournal.com/3086645.html

I wonder if countries like North Korea and Iran who can not produce modern fighters but copy/produce Mig-21s. With lighter/stronger materials/engines and wing's lift devices, its empty operational weight can reduce to 5 tons, max usefull payload should be 3+ tons so it can take off with full internal fuel, 3 fuel tanks (2x500L & 1x800L) and 1 tons of weapons.

kopyo-21 wrote:I wonder if countries like North Korea and Iran who can not produce modern fighters but copy/produce Mig-21s. With lighter/stronger materials/engines and wing's lift devices, its empty operational weight can reduce to 5 tons, max usefull payload should be 3+ tons so it can take off with full internal fuel, 3 fuel tanks (2x500L & 1x800L) and 1 tons of weapons.

Iran could but they are waiting to get some sukhois. North Korea won't be able to get all the materrial it needs to build a fighter.

Isos wrote:

kopyo-21 wrote:I wonder if countries like North Korea and Iran who can not produce modern fighters but copy/produce Mig-21s. With lighter/stronger materials/engines and wing's lift devices, its empty operational weight can reduce to 5 tons, max usefull payload should be 3+ tons so it can take off with full internal fuel, 3 fuel tanks (2x500L & 1x800L) and 1 tons of weapons.

Iran could but they are waiting to get some sukhois. North Korea won't be able to get all the materrial it needs to build a fighter.

Why not? MiG-21's aren't new and I would imagine rather easier to produce since NK has a working metallurgy industry and can produce engines of various types. I imagine reverse engineering the older engines may not be an issue either.

miketheterrible wrote:

Isos wrote:

kopyo-21 wrote:I wonder if countries like North Korea and Iran who can not produce modern fighters but copy/produce Mig-21s. With lighter/stronger materials/engines and wing's lift devices, its empty operational weight can reduce to 5 tons, max usefull payload should be 3+ tons so it can take off with full internal fuel, 3 fuel tanks (2x500L & 1x800L) and 1 tons of weapons.

Iran could but they are waiting to get some sukhois. North Korea won't be able to get all the materrial it needs to build a fighter.

Why not? MiG-21's aren't new and I would imagine rather easier to produce since NK has a working metallurgy industry and can produce engines of various types. I imagine reverse engineering the older engines may not be an issue either.

Not sure about engine production for NK tbh, they did some overhauls of engines but actual production is questionable at best.

Militarov wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:

Isos wrote:

kopyo-21 wrote:I wonder if countries like North Korea and Iran who can not produce modern fighters but copy/produce Mig-21s. With lighter/stronger materials/engines and wing's lift devices, its empty operational weight can reduce to 5 tons, max usefull payload should be 3+ tons so it can take off with full internal fuel, 3 fuel tanks (2x500L & 1x800L) and 1 tons of weapons.

Iran could but they are waiting to get some sukhois. North Korea won't be able to get all the materrial it needs to build a fighter.

Why not? MiG-21's aren't new and I would imagine rather easier to produce since NK has a working metallurgy industry and can produce engines of various types. I imagine reverse engineering the older engines may not be an issue either.

Not sure about engine production for NK tbh, they did some overhauls of engines but actual production is questionable at best.

Well, they had jets for a considerable amount of time, I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to build whole ones, since they would have had to produce spare parts down to the nut and bolt.

It would be nice to see more than just rockets and artillery.

miketheterrible wrote:

Well, they had jets for a considerable amount of time, I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to build whole ones, since they would have had to produce spare parts down to the nut and bolt.

It would be nice to see more than just rockets and artillery.

You know that first MiG-29s they recieved in kits, and they stood for very long time in hangars, because.. they didnt know how to assemble them. It was their tryout to liftup aircraft industry, to learn about it and it didnt go very well, at the end foreign technicians did the job (Russian-Ukrainian). So forgive me for being abit skeptical about jet engine production. Overhaul sure, they are doing it with some success for quite some time. But in general their know-how regarding that field is quite poor.

I read in Yefim Gordon's book about the MiG-29 that North Korea bought the license to locally produce MiG-29s in the 80's, but was never able to really manufacture one on its own, the few MiG-29 they have came from the Soviet Union in kits and were just assembled there.

Svyatoslavich wrote:I read in Yefim Gordon's book about the MiG-29 that North Korea bought the license to locally produce MiG-29s in the 80's, but was never able to really manufacture one on its own, the few MiG-29 they have came from the Soviet Union in kits and were just assembled there.

They bought kits to assemble in NK, and failed basically. Licence was never part of the deal as there was not even remote chance NK would ever be able to materialise such agreement.

Militarov wrote:

Svyatoslavich wrote:I read in Yefim Gordon's book about the MiG-29 that North Korea bought the license to locally produce MiG-29s in the 80's, but was never able to really manufacture one on its own, the few MiG-29 they have came from the Soviet Union in kits and were just assembled there.

They bought kits to assemble in NK, and failed basically. Licence was never part of the deal as there was not even remote chance NK would ever be able to materialise such agreement.

I would imagine that if they really put emphasis on aircraft production or know how to do it, as they do in rocket and missile development, I imagine it wouldn't take them long to figure it out.  Especially if they start by reverse engineering something like MiG-21's or J-7's.  Piece by piece.  It would take a long time and I know it will be difficult with probably some of them being no longer operational afterwards, but at least they can solve the issue of lack of replacements.  Hell, since there is nothing left to lose, Iran and North Korea can work together.  Heck, both would make good money together from such a development IMO. Maybe its their next thing after they are comfortable with their missiles they have designed and start actually producing the models they want.

Ideally is NK (can) copies the RD-33 engine and some avionics from its Mig-29s then uses that to make the Mig-21s :-)

Militarov wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:

Well, they had jets for a considerable amount of time, I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to build whole ones, since they would have had to produce spare parts down to the nut and bolt.

It would be nice to see more than just rockets and artillery.

You know that first MiG-29s they recieved in kits, and they stood for very long time in hangars, because.. they didnt know how to assemble them. It was their tryout to liftup aircraft industry, to learn about it and it didnt go very well, at the end foreign technicians did the job (Russian-Ukrainian). So forgive me for being abit skeptical about jet engine production. Overhaul sure, they are doing it with some success for quite some time. But in general their know-how regarding that field is quite poor.

Even if they manage somehow to build a mig 21, it's gonna be the worst fighter ever produced. Even modern us or french or russian new fighters are not perfect and have crashes. What would it be with a north korean product ?

Their potentiel enemy is US or south Korea so it won't change anything if they have mig 21 or no. Their ressources are very very limited. They should invest in civilian projects instead.

Isos wrote:

Militarov wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:

Well, they had jets for a considerable amount of time, I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to build whole ones, since they would have had to produce spare parts down to the nut and bolt.

It would be nice to see more than just rockets and artillery.

You know that first MiG-29s they recieved in kits, and they stood for very long time in hangars, because.. they didnt know how to assemble them. It was their tryout to liftup aircraft industry, to learn about it and it didnt go very well, at the end foreign technicians did the job (Russian-Ukrainian). So forgive me for being abit skeptical about jet engine production. Overhaul sure, they are doing it with some success for quite some time. But in general their know-how regarding that field is quite poor.

Even if they manage somehow to build a mig 21, it's gonna be the worst fighter ever produced. Even modern us or french or russian new fighters are not perfect and have crashes. What would it be with a north korean product ?

Their potentiel enemy is US or south Korea so it won't change anything if they have mig 21 or no. Their ressources are very very limited. They should invest in civilian projects instead.

It makes more sense to make missiles, and stationer radards.

It take too much resources to make an inferior fighter, without any usable radar.

They can make usable ground based radars and missiles instead, that can do all job better than a mig21.

They already have something that looks like s-300 but its probably a bad copy. Actually militarly they can't do anything worth money. They should try to have better relation withsouth korea instead, they have everything to win by doing this.

That's basis on what?

North Korea makes some equipment like artillery used by Iran. They make Kh-35 knockoffs, they make knockoffs of a lot of ground systems. I don't see any reasoning to believe they don't work.

And do you really think they can have good relations with South Korea with US constantly stirring shit? You think US will allow South Korea have good relations with the north without demanding the north to give up their country?

Some of you are beyond help when it comes to common sense or even basic thinking process.

miketheterrible wrote:That's basis on what?

North Korea makes some equipment like artillery used by Iran. They make Kh-35 knockoffs, they make knockoffs of a lot of ground systems.  I don't see any reasoning to believe they don't work.

And do you really think they can have good relations with South Korea with US constantly stirring shit? You think US will allow South Korea have good relations with the north without demanding the north to give up their country?

Some of you are beyond help when it comes to common sense or even basic thinking process.

Based on history. There is a difference between making an artillery and a system like a s-300 or a mig fighter ... and like you say they make copy systems. No one knows how good they are and I would say they are not better than original. Iraqi Scud were awfull for exemple. They simply don't have enough smart guys to do the work.

Relations between south and north korea are more complicated than you seem to "know". I said they should not they will.

North and south Koreas can reach an agreement if they really want to. But I agree US are not helpfull. That's why I said they should try to have good relations with south Korea not US.

Isos wrote:

miketheterrible wrote:That's basis on what?

North Korea makes some equipment like artillery used by Iran. They make Kh-35 knockoffs, they make knockoffs of a lot of ground systems.  I don't see any reasoning to believe they don't work.

And do you really think they can have good relations with South Korea with US constantly stirring shit? You think US will allow South Korea have good relations with the north without demanding the north to give up their country?

Some of you are beyond help when it comes to common sense or even basic thinking process.

Based on history. There is a difference between making an artillery and a system like a s-300 or a mig fighter ... and like you say they make copy systems. No one knows how good they are and I would say they are not better than original. Iraqi Scud were awfull for exemple. They simply don't have enough smart guys to do the work.

Relations between south and north korea are more complicated than you seem to "know". I said they should not they will.

North and south Koreas can reach an agreement if they really want to. But I agree US are not helpfull. That's why I said they should try to have good relations with south Korea not US.

I am aware of the Korean situation. I am also aware of how a lot of technology works as well. Let me explain: even if lets say a knockoff of S-300 exists in North Korea, and lets say performance is half of the modern systems, it may not be entirely bad: https://missilethreat.csis.org/missile/kn-06/

If it flew 150km's from the launcher, then there is a chance that the missile may have a 90km~ range for engagement of enemy aircrafts. Maybe even higher (120km possibly). Their Strela's look like local modernization and production of parts and missiles, so it clearly gives North Korea an edge in being able to create them when needed so the logistics must be there and so a war of attrition doesn't exactly work against NK.

I wouldn't knock the systems. Yeah, they may not be as fancy looking or maybe not as modern in the sense of subcomponents as South Korean stuff, but they most likely work and that is something must be taken into account. Plus with their missile and artillery systems, they can cause severe devastation which is why South Korea and Japan are not interested in an actual conflict.

And South Korea and North Korea were trying very hard to cooperate with each other. Hence why Hyundai has a plant in Pyongyang. Thats why North korea was gaining a lot of investments, even in their special economic zone were a Rail line is being built by Russia from Russia through NK to SK. Why there was SK investments and Chinese investments. Guess who is pushing hard to prevent these nations from cooperating? USA. Guess who is keeping the war rhetorics up? USA. Guess who prevents South Korea from actually trying to have some kind of normal relations with NK? USA. So unless USA is removed from the scene entirely, there will never be any proper relations between the two Koreas. On top of that, its obvious that South Korea has no real say and is a vassal state since USA kept their bases in SK. As well, it was the USA that broke majority of the agreements anyway back in 2001 when the agreements were made between NK and USA/SK in nuclear weapons production and the USA was to give up their constant exercises and what not at the borders. Sure enough, even USA couldn't keep themselves from being big time fucking assholes and so which forced NK's hand to restart nuclear weapons production.

Sorry to say buddy, but you need a bit more experience I think in understanding foreign relations and politics. Cause its rather a amateur mistake to think that these two nations can have normalization of relations if the USA is in the scene.

The NK's budget is very tightly limited so they have kept focussing on what can well thread around: nuclear & IBM. I think if they have enough money to invest for aerospace industry, they at least can copy/produce Mig-21s or F-7s, not mention about the quality yet.

Regarding to Mig-29, I still think Russia should keep its design to continuosly modernize and upgrade further (like F-16 family) instead of launching Mig-35. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing argument with Mig-35's performance but just think that Mig-29s with all improment would be better than it.

For example, thank to the airframe design and lower thrust RD-33 engines, Mig-29s consume much less fuel than Mig-35s. With full internal fuel of ~4,500L (9-13) and 3 fuel tanks (2,820L in total), Mig-29s can fly 2,900km (3 fuel tanks contribute 1,400km). While with full internal fuel of 6,250L and 3 fuel tanks (3,515L in total), Mig-35s can fly 3,000km (3 fuel tanks contribute 1,000km). The Mig-35s is heavier, bigger, higher thrust and better thrush-to-weight ratio so consume more fuel. However the Mig-29's thrust-to-weight ratio as well as its maneuver capabilities still are well adequate for modern wars today.

What they need to do with new Mg-29s are to replace new engines (keep max thrush at 8,300 kgf), remove the auxiliary air intakes to accommodate more fuel, replace main wings to add more hard points and fuel, strengthen the landing gears and airframe to increase the external load and max take-off weight, etc. The higher used composites will help it keep the empty weight at 11 tons like the 9-13 version. With all changes, the new Mig-29s suppose to have ferry range of 3,600-3,800km. New Mig-29 also can equip AESA radar, advanced elec-optronic, ECM, targeting pod and fifth-generation weapons, etc like Mig-35s.