On January 5, North Korea launched a hypersonic missile. Less than a week later, another hypersonic missile was fired on January 11. If North Korea announced the first launch of a hypersonic missile on September 29, 2021, people would still be skeptical, but two intensive launches more than three months later dispelled people’s doubts. This is real. But it also makes people curious: Is North Korea’s missile technology so powerful?
This is not the first time North Korea has tested a hypersonic missile. It was the first launch on September 29, 2021 (Source: KCNA)
According to reports, in the test on January 5, the missile tested a variety of hypersonic technologies. The glide body and the booster rocket were successfully separated, and the multiple glide jump flights and strong lateral maneuvers were successfully combined. The maneuverability and stability were tested. It has achieved a lateral maneuver of 120 kilometers from the initial launch azimuth to the target azimuth, accurately hit targets 700 kilometers away, and has a maximum speed of M6.
In the test on January 11, the missile reached the speed of the M10 and hit a target 1,000 kilometers away.
The parameters of the September 29 test are unknown.
The South Korean military claimed after the January 5 missile test that North Korea was not launching a hypersonic missile but a ballistic missile with maneuverable reentry capability. It is difficult to say whether the test on January 11 was deliberately conducted by North Korea to slap the South Korean military in the face: “See clearly, this is a hypersonic missile!” It may also be another test originally arranged to test a different technical parameter.
A missile shown in “Self-Defense 2021” (second from left) is very similar to the one used in the test (Source: North Korea Central Television)
Also on display was another hypersonic missile, said to be the Hwasong-8 (Source: KCNA)
To commemorate the 76th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea, North Korea held the “Self-Defense 2021” military equipment exhibition in Pyongyang on October 11, 2021, displaying a variety of new equipment, including two hypersonic missiles. By comparison, it was found that the waverider hypersonic missile that was launched on September 29 was displayed in a high-profile display. It is reported that the model is Hwasong-8, and its appearance is somewhat similar to that of China’s Dongfeng-17. But what was launched on January 5 was a more traditional double-cone structure, the model is unknown, here is temporarily called Mars-Superior.
Both hypersonic missiles use a modified version of the Hwasong-12 booster stage, which is liquid-fueled but has long-term storage technology. In other words, liquid fuel can be added early and ready to launch at any time, avoiding the time required for pre-launch refueling and the possible loss of fighter jets.
In a short period of time, North Korea has tested two hypersonic missiles of different configurations one after another, which naturally leads to a question: why?
A hypersonic is a box that can fit anything into it. A truly meaningful hypersonic speed must not only exceed the speed of the M5, but also have sufficient lateral maneuverability, otherwise the reentry ballistic missile would have reached hypersonic speed long ago.
Hypersonic is also divided into three typical modes:
1. High throw – gliding
2. Water float – gliding
3. Gliding in the atmosphere
The high-throwing-gliding trajectory is Qian Xuesen’s trajectory, the water-floating-gliding trajectory is the Sengor trajectory, and the atmospheric gliding trajectory is directly connected between the shutdown point and the gliding segment, without leaving the atmosphere (Source: Internet)
High-throwing-glide is the simplest hypersonic glide projectile, launched with a rocket like a ballistic missile to high altitudes, usually reaching a height outside the atmosphere, then returning under the influence of gravity, levelling after entering the atmosphere, and turning into a glide. Due to inertia, there is actually a “sinking-floating” process between pulling and gliding horizontally. This is when the projectile is most overloaded, and it is also the key to energy control. At shallower reentry angles, the magnitude of the “sink-float” is almost negligible, as shown in the figure. At this time, the projectile is less stressed, and the loss of speed and range is less. But this also determines that the departure angle is smaller, the ballistic trajectory is lower, and the range is shorter. If the range is large, the trajectory must be high, and the re-entry angle must be large. “Sinking-floating” is close to the first section of the water-floating-gliding trajectory “floating”, but it turns to horizontal glide before ejecting the atmosphere. .
Floating-gliding is a further development of high-throwing-gliding. In re-entry, it uses the density difference at the edge of the atmosphere to bounce off the edge of the “dense” atmosphere like a rock flake, and returns to a place where the density of the air is close to that of a vacuum. Outside the atmosphere, between two water drift points is ballistic flight. Drift-Gliding continues to take advantage of low drag flight outside the atmosphere, high speed and long range, between drift points after each reentry. Each time it is floating, it can also use aerodynamic control to change the direction of the rebound to form a lateral maneuver, making the flight trajectory elusive, and even achieve a roundabout attack, bypassing the most powerful direction of anti-missile defense.
Gliding in the atmosphere is like a glider. The change of the flight trajectory is continuous. Slowly speaking, lateral maneuvering, when interest comes, and flying in circles can be done. But compared to high throw – or float – glide, the effect of air resistance is obvious, the speed is lower, and the range is also reduced. Generally, it is used to take off and slide in the atmosphere, that is to say, before flying out of the atmosphere, the booster rocket is turned off, and the missile naturally bows its head under the action of gravity. , the projectile is separated and transferred to glide.
In terms of anti-missile, all three hypersonic modes exceed the M5 and exceed the interception envelope of typical air defense missiles. All three types of hypersonic flight are extreme flight, and the limit lies not in speed, but in maneuverability. The mobility of the anti-hyperbomb needs to be stronger than that of the hyperbomb, and the difficulty can be imagined. This is the chase between the Olympic 100m champions, and it is useless to eat more chicken legs. Return to Sohu, see more
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