North Korea Hypersonic Missile

January 6, 2022

North Korea fired a “hypersonic missile” on January 5, 2022, that successfully hit a target.

Key Points

It was North Korea’s second such test, as the country pursues new military capabilities because of stalled denuclearisation talks.
The launch by North Korea was the first since October 2021.
It was detected by several militaries in the region.
However, this test drew criticism from governments in the United States, Japan and South Korea.

Background

North Korea had first tested a hypersonic missile in September 2021 and joined a race headed by major military powers for deploying the advanced weapons system.

North Korea’s Test

In the recent test of North Korea, “hypersonic gliding warhead” detached from the rocket booster and manoeuvred 120 km laterally and hit “a target 700 km away. Missile also demonstrated its ability to combine ‘strong lateral manoeuvring and multi-step glide jump fight’. It also confirmed components like flight control and its ability to operate in winter.

Hypersonic weapons

Hypersonic weapons usually fly towards targets at lower altitudes as compared to ballistic missiles. Such weapons can achieve more than five times the speed of sound, that is around 6,200 km per hour. However, main feature of the hypersonic weapon is not speed but their manoeuvrability. Hypersonic weapons are the next generation of arms, which aim to rob adversaries of traditional defeat mechanisms and reaction time.

US-led diplomacy on nuclear programme

US-led diplomacy on nuclear programme by North Korea is stalled since 2019 because of disputes over international sanctions on the North. Joe Biden administration has been calling to resume nuclear diplomacy at any time, without preconditions. However, North Korea is of the view that, US must first withdraw its sanctions against it before resuming any talk.

Missile defence system by US

In December 2021, United States completed construction of a $1.5 billion long-range radar in Alaska, for a homeland missile defence system. It can track ballistic missiles and hypersonic weapons from countries like North Korea.

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