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According to the Korean Central News Agency, on April 2, local time, the General Missile Directorate of the Korean People's Army successfully carried out a launch test of a new medium- and long-range solid-fuel missile, the Hwasong-16B, at Suncheon International Airport in western North Korea, possibly near Pyongyang. After flying about 1,000 kilometers and performing jump and sideslip maneuvers as planned, the hypersonic glide warhead successfully splashed down on a predetermined target area in the northwestern part of the Sea of Japan. KCNA announced that the flight test was a complete success.
Hwasong-16B launch scene
Test firing situation
The Hwasong-16B missile is equipped with a hypersonic gliding flight warhead newly developed by the DPRK, and the purpose of this test launch is to verify the overall design and technical characteristics of the missile and test the reliability of the weapon system.
For safety reasons, the range of the missile was adjusted to less than 1,000 kilometers during the test launch, and the flight speed and altitude were controlled by delaying the start of the second-stage engine and rapidly changing orbit in the active section, so as to verify the characteristics and performance of the hypersonic gliding flight warhead. The hypersonic glide flight warhead separated from the missile reached the first apex altitude of 101.1 km and the second apex altitude of 72.3 km along the predetermined trajectory, and finally landed accurately in the eastern sea area 1,000 km away from the pre-designed plan, indicating that North Korea has mastered the relevant hypersonic glide body technology.
Judging from the flight trajectory of the "Hwasong-16B", this is an undoubted test of a hypersonic vehicle, including a number of elements of hypersonic vehicles such as pressing down and sliding at the highest point of the active stage, jumping many times during gliding, and implementing complex maneuvering and orbit changes. Kim Jong-un commented: "The creation of another strategic attack weapon that can demonstrate the superiority of North Korea's defense science and technology has enabled us to achieve the full application of solid fuel in tactical, operational, and strategic missiles at all levels, and to have the ability to carry controllable warheads and nuclear weapons." ”
The flap on the transport launch vehicle has been opened, revealing the boost-glide vehicle inside
In addition, judging from the photos and videos released by KCNA, the size of the "Hwasong-16B" is not small, it uses a 7-axle launcher platform, and the missile adopts a typical solid rocket engine take-off section, plus a front-stage glider design, and there is a fairing transition section between the front stage glider and the rear section of the solid rocket motor take-off section. According to the size and range of North Korea's previous missiles, the maximum range of the Hwasong-16B hypersonic missile should be about 5,000 kilometers.
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All-round upgrades
As early as 2021, at the "Self-Defense" annual national defense development achievement exhibition held in Pyongyang, North Korea displayed a hypersonic missile called "Hwasong-16", and also carried out two test launches on January 5 and 11, 2022, but at that time, a liquid rocket engine was used, and the fuel filling port at the tail of the rocket engine and the main nozzle of the first-stage rocket engine and the characteristics of the traveling plane are very obvious. The "Hwasong-16B" missile test-fired this time can be said to be an upgraded version, its booster stage has been replaced from a liquid rocket engine to a solid rocket engine, and a submersible nozzle is used, and the technical design of the rocket engine is quite advanced. The advantages of solid-fuel engines over conventional liquid-fuel engines are greater convenience of storage and transportation, as well as shorter preparation times for launch. North Korea has previously used solid fuel on a number of missiles, but the Hwasong-16B is North Korea's first medium- and long-range ballistic missile with solid fuel.
Close-up of the gliding warhead of the "Hwasong-16B", you can see the attitude adjustment fins on both sides
An even bigger upgrade on the Hwasong-16B is its hypersonic warhead design. Previous "Marscan-16" It adopts the first generation of technical level characteristics of the bi-cone hypersonic glider configuration, the gliding lift-to-drag ratio of this configuration is general, not suitable for the aircraft to implement a wide range of side-slip maneuvers at the end of the stage, it is considered the previous generation of hypersonic glider technology, but its technical advantage is that the manufacturing is relatively simple, the load is relatively high, the requirements for aerodynamic design and testing are relatively low, and it is a configuration that is easy to achieve in engineering, such as the LRHW of the US military, which is a typical hypersonic vehicle with a double cone configuration.
The hypersonic warhead of the "Hwasong-16B" has been upgraded to a gliding body configuration, which adopts a complex multi-curved waverider shape design, with a flat conical warhead and wings, which is a typical "waverider" form, which can move laterally and adjust the trajectory up and down when flying, and it is extremely difficult to intercept. The design of this glider is extremely demanding for materials, thermal management, and aerodynamics, otherwise it is easy to lose stability or overheat and burn. However, the advantages of this type of glider are quite huge, the biggest advantage is that it has excellent maneuverability, which can support the aircraft to jump and slide in near space to achieve the best penetration efficiency, and is considered to be a generation ahead of the bicone hypersonic glider configuration.
The Hwasong-16B at the moment of launch
epilogue
The DPRK is developing two hypersonic missiles of different configurations at the same time, which may be a gradual technological process, first developing a bipyramidal configuration with a relatively low technical threshold, and then developing a gliding configuration with a high degree of difficulty. It may also be that the two missiles take on different strike missions, with the double-cone configuration hypersonic missile used to carry out penetration operations, while the gliding hypersonic missile with higher cost and technical threshold is used for strategic strikes, enhancing strategic deterrence against the United States, which is of great significance to North Korea.