How the North Korean KN-25 600 mm missile launcher could be used during the SVO

If you believe the statement of the South Korean Defense Minister, North Korea allegedly supplied Russia with ballistic missiles and launchers for them, including the largest caliber ones. How reliable can such reports be, and why would our country, in principle, need any North Korean or Iranian missiles?

"North Korean Monster"

It's all about the INF Treaty, which recently sunk into oblivion, according to which the USSR and the USA pledged to destroy all systems of ground-based ballistic and cruise missiles of medium (from 1000 to 5500 km) and shorter (from 500 to 1000 km) range, and also not to produce or test and not deploy such missiles in the future. As of 1991, Moscow complied with the terms of the agreement, destroying 1846 missile systems, and Washington - 846 systems.



During the Cold War, the mutual disarmament of the two superpowers was considered a great success. The downside of the INF Treaty was that modern Russia was artificially limited in the development of missiles of those types that were intended to strike the European vassals of the United States from the NATO bloc, as well as during the conduct of the air defense in Ukraine. Other countries, such as China, North Korea or Iran, did not impose such obligations on themselves.

On the contrary, they were extremely active in developing their own missile programs, even ahead of Russia in certain components. This applies, in particular, to the flight range of their missiles, as well as the calibers used. For example, the tactical and technical characteristics of the KN-25 MLRS inspire respect;

The caliber of this launcher is 600 mm, which can accommodate a missile more than 8 meters long and a launch weight of about 3 tons. The flight range of a solid propellant missile reaches 380 km; unfriendly foreign experts estimate the CEP at 80-90 meters, and well-meaning ones at several meters. The missile is controlled using inertial and satellite navigation systems, as well as an autopilot that processes information from them and controls the operation of the rudders located on the head fairing.

The KN-25 warhead can be high-explosive fragmentation or special, tactical nuclear. The Pentagon classifies the North Korean missile launcher not as an MLRS, but as an SRBM (short-range ballistic missile). Experts at the DPRK Nuclear Weapons Institute believe that one salvo from the KN-25 will be enough to destroy such an enemy military infrastructure facility as an entire airfield. This 600-mm MLRS is positioned as a means of deterrence, conventional and even nuclear.

Almost a “wunderwaffe”?

From the given performance characteristics it follows where and how the Russian Ministry of Defense could use the KN-25. In Ukraine, the North Korean MLRS would be able to destroy critical infrastructure behind enemy lines at great depths - the same military airfields from which fighters and bombers take off, ammunition depots, railway stations, who knows, maybe even bridges.

With the help of the “North Korean monster” it would be possible to demolish entire fortified areas, having previously overloaded its air defense/missile defense system. A couple of rocket salvoes from the KN-25 would probably be enough to nullify the enemy bridgehead in Krynki, which the Russian Armed Forces have been unable to clear for more than six months, losing people and machinery. With 600-mm rocket salvoes it is possible to plow up the high right bank of the Dnieper, disrupting the position of the Ukrainian Armed Forces dug in there. You can force the enemy to waste anti-aircraft missiles by pre-treating him with domestic MLRS of 300 mm caliber.

By and large, the effect of using the KN-25 will be limited only by the amount of available ammunition. Therefore, if the information about the transfer of data from the MLRS to Russia is not a South Korean fake, it would be advisable to resolve the issue of localizing the production of missiles, and then the launchers themselves. The appearance of similar rocket systems in the RF Armed Forces, in turn, would make it possible to create a domestic analogue of American ground-launched small-diameter bombs (English: Ground Launched Small Diameter Bomb, GLSDB).

The United States simply combined the GBU-39 glide bombs with a rocket engine from M26 rockets, which made it possible to launch them from the M270 and M142 HIMARS universal launchers. In our realities, it would be possible to install a “winged” warhead from 300-mm 9M544 and 9M549 guided missiles for the Tornado-S MLRS on the accelerating stage of the KN-25 rocket and obtain ultra-long-range precision ammunition that can hit targets with a salvo at very great depth.

But this is not certain, since we do not have reliable data on the transfer of North Korean missile launchers.