. | . |
N.Korean missiles based on motor from ex-Soviet plant: report By Dave Clark Washington (AFP) Aug 14, 2017
North Korea's recent rapid progress in developing a long-range missile appears to have come after it refurbished rocket engines procured from a plant in the former Soviet Union, according to an expert report published Monday. According to Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the missiles used in recent North Korean tests were based on the RD-250 engine once made at a plant in what is now an independent Ukraine. These could have been bought from corrupt workers at arsenals in what are now the rival states of Russia and Ukraine and smuggled to North Korea by criminal networks -- at some point between the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and Ukraine's current crisis. North Korea has been testing missile technology since procuring a Soviet-designed Scud in the 1970s, but was until recently struggling to construct a working intercontinental missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to US targets. The latest IISS report and others suggest that Kim Jong-Un's regime has abandoned attempts to modify the Russian-built OKB-456 and has now switched to the once Ukrainian-made RD-250 -- with spectacular and ominous results. During the Soviet era, the RD-250 was produced at the Yuzhnoye design bureau's Yuzhmash plant in Dnipro, a city that is today in Kiev government-held central Ukraine, around 150 kilometers (80 miles) from an active frontline held by Russian-backed separatists. Ukraine reacted angrily to The New York Times' account of the IISS report -- which emphasized the Ukrainian origin of the technology -- insisting that Yuzhmash has not produced military rockets since Ukraine's independence and has no links to North Korea's nuclear missile program. But the report itself does not contradict this, suggesting instead that the missile motors may have remained in storage, whether in what is now the Russian Federation or in independent Ukraine, after the Soviet Union broke up. "A small team of disgruntled employees or underpaid guards at any one of the storage sites... could be enticed to steal a few dozen engines by one of the many illicit arms dealers, criminal networks, or transnational smugglers operating in the former Soviet Union," it said. "The engines (less than two meters tall and one meter wide) can be flown or, more likely, transported by train through Russia to North Korea." The report includes pictures issued by Kim's regime which appear to show similarities between the latest missiles to be tested and the RD-250 design for a liquid-fuelled rocket. "This is not to suggest that the Ukrainian government was involved, and not necessarily Yuzhnoye executives," Elleman wrote in the IISS report. "Workers at Yuzhnoye facilities in Dnipropetrovsk and Pavlograd were likely the first ones to suffer the consequences of the economic misfortunes, leaving them susceptible to exploitation by unscrupulous traders, arms dealers and transnational criminals operating in Russia, Ukraine and elsewhere." - 'Ominous questions' - The Yuzhmash plant's marketing department said the company "has never before and does not have anything to do with North Korean missile programs of a space or defense nature." And Oleksandr Turchynov, secretary of Ukraine's national security and defense council, seized on the report to attack Moscow, saying: "We believe this anti-Ukrainian campaign was provoked by Russian special services to cover their participation in North Korean nuclear and missile programs." As the controversy erupted, Elleman took to Twitter to clarify his conclusions. "Let me be clear about DPRK's source of ICBM engine: Yuzhnoye is one of several possible sources, there are other potentials in Russia," he wrote, adding that he does not believe the current Kiev government condoned or even knew about the transfer. And he noted -- as had his original report -- that Ukraine had in fact arrested two suspected North Korean agents in July 2012 as they tried to steal secrets from the Yuzhnoye design bureau in Dnipro. Other outside experts have backed the conclusion that the latest round of North Korean missile tests, which have sharply raised tensions between Pyongyang and Washington, involved rockets using the RD-250 design. Last week, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists published a report suggesting the switch to Yuzhnoye's design over another Soviet-era model that had failed in previous North Korean tests was cause for concern. This, the academic authors said, "raises new and potentially ominous questions about the variety and extent to which Soviet rocket motors might have been obtained by North Korea during the collapse of the Soviet Union." dc-burs/jm
Washington (UPI) Aug 8, 2017 Raytheon Missile Systems has received a $66.4 million modification to an existing contract for the Standard Missile-3 Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defense program for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The modification will provide for engineering work, support services and analysis of the SM-3 Block IIA missile and BMD 5.1 flight testing and certification. The work will be conducted in ... read more Related Links Learn about missile defense at SpaceWar.com All about missiles at SpaceWar.com
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |