With two missile launch attempts, N. Korea finally gets one right—maybe

The Musudan intermediate range ballistic missile. Five out of six of these missiles have failed in test launches over the past three months. The sixth may or may not have been an improvement.

After repeated failed tests of its intermediate range ballistic missile over the past few months, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) attempted this morning to once again demonstrate its ability to strike with nuclear weapons, launching two Musudan missiles within four hours. The first missile traveled a mere 95 miles (about 150km) before crashing into the sea off the east coast of the Korean peninsula.

The second flew a more impressive 250 miles (about 400km). There is some disagreement about whether that launch was a complete success, however. North Korea did not previously announce the test or issue a warning to the UN's civil aviation authority of the launches, so it is possible that the missile was aimed at an intentionally closer target area. The real measure of whether the test qualified as a success would be its trajectory—if the missile reached a sufficient altitude to reach more distant targets.

The Musudan, also known as the BM-25, has been estimated previously to have a range of between 2,500 and 4,000km (1,500 to 2,500 miles). Based on 1960s-era Soviet technology with some homegrown tweaks (including a larger fuel supply for extending range), kits for the Musudan were allegedly sold to Iran by North Korea. But despite the fact that North Korea has had Musudan missiles for over a decade, there have been no flight tests of the system in the past—likely because the North Korean regime believed that the Soviet-era design was already proven to be reliable.

Read 2 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Source: Technology Lab – Ars Technica http://ift.tt/28RaGgQ