[Yang Nak-gyu's Defence Club] Missiles Our Military Will Possess

[Asia Economy Yang Nak-gyu, Military Specialist Reporter] Our military has decided to develop various means to launch space launch vehicles from the air or sea in the future.

On the 31st, the Ministry of National Defense stated in a report to the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly, "In order to strengthen defense capabilities following the end of the ROK-U.S. missile guidelines, we will develop various platforms capable of operating air- and sea-based space launch vehicles."

In other words, they plan to develop means to launch space launch vehicles from the air or sea. The military is considering options such as launching space rockets (launch vehicles) from aircraft in the air and launching space rockets from ships located in distant seas.

The Ministry of National Defense introduced plans to operationalize an electro-optical satellite surveillance system next year and to launch the military reconnaissance satellite for the first time in 2022.

Following the end of the ROK-U.S. missile guidelines, it is expected that the military will continue to develop the Hyunmoo series missiles. The Agency for Defense Development (ADD) is known to have named the ground-launched ballistic missile as 'Hyunmoo 4-1', the ship-launched ballistic missile as 'Hyunmoo 4-2', and the submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) as 'Hyunmoo 4-4', according to the launch location.

Hyunmoo 4-1 has a warhead weight of 2 tons (t) and possesses at least three times the penetration power compared to the currently strongest GBU-57. It can penetrate reinforced concrete over 24 meters thick and general ground up to 180 meters, effectively reaching tactical nuclear-level power. The Hyunmoo 4-2 missile is planned to be mounted on 30,000-ton class light aircraft carriers, and the Hyunmoo 4-4 missile on the 3,000-ton class submarine Dosan Ahn Changho.

Until now, the Navy has equipped ships such as the Korean destroyer (DDH II, 4,400-ton class) with cruise missiles like 'Haeseong 2' or 'Cheonryong', and the 214-class submarines with the cruise missile 'Haeseong 3'. As the development of Hyunmoo 4-2 and 4-4 nears completion, the Navy has changed the Dosan Ahn Changho submarine's launch platform from a horizontal launcher to a vertical launcher to equip SLBMs.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.