Sea serpent. North Korea's most dangerous weapon
"Flaming"
Tension in East Asia is growing every year. Here are the relations of South Korea with the DPRK, and the claims of Koreans to the Japanese, connected with the Second World War. And vice versa. And, of course, the geopolitical struggle of the PRC and the States. Earlier, by the way, experts estimated that now about 25% of all world trade passes through the South China Sea. So many experts see it as the key to world domination, although with some “buts.”
North Korea, unlike China, does not pretend to any world domination, and despite aggressive rhetoric with regard to its neighbors, it is mainly aimed at defending its borders. However, the DPRK fleet is impressive in size. North Korean military command has at its disposal two fleet: East and West. The first, according to data from open sources, includes 470 ships and ships, while the West has 300 ships and ships of different classes. With the total number of employees in the Navy of the DPRK is about 50-60 thousand people. For comparison: the number of the Russian Navy as of 2018 is 150 thousand people. At the same time, the total population in Russia is 146 million, in the DPRK - 25 million.
Interesting arithmetic, of course, few people will surprise. North Korea is a unique living "organism", militarized to the extreme. For example, the DPRK Navy’s conscription service life is 5-10 years. In the ground forces - 5-12 years. In a word, "fun."
Quantity instead of quality
For all this, there is not the slightest doubt about the plight of both the country itself and its armed forces, which are forced, in conditions of poverty and international isolation, to exploit literally everything else that can move along the road, walk along the sea or fly.
Now North Korean submarine forces are among the most numerous. By the number of non-nuclear submarines, the DPRK is among the top leading countries: it is assumed that the country has 70-80 submarines. The basis of the submarine fleet is relatively large diesel submarines, which are a modification of the Soviet submarine of the 633 project. In total, experts believe that there are approximately 20 of such boats in the DPRK. First, they were imported from China, and then North Korea was able to independently produce ships of this type.
The length of the 633 project submarine reaches 76,6 meters, and the width is 6,7 meters. Underwater displacement - 1712 tons. Crew - 52 person. The boat has eight 533-mm torpedo tubes.
According to experts, the rest of the DPRK submarines are small and ultra-small submarines, which by default have limited capabilities. However, even North Korea can surprise with sudden achievements (of course, you need to realistically understand the country's potential and its real opportunities). In July of this year, the North Korean agency CTAC announced the appearance in the DPRK arsenal of a new submarine. "The new submarine, built with careful guidance and special attention of a respected senior leader, is designed to perform tasks in the operating area of the East Sea and is on the eve of operational deployment," the agency said.
The experts were most attracted by the photographs of the boat, against which Kim Jong-un himself was photographed. Then the well-known portal Covert Shores, dedicated to the naval theme, presented its findings on this subject. “The footage shown on the CCAC shows only the lower hull of the submarine, near the stern and near the bow. This is enough to say with confidence that we have a modified Romeo class submarine, ”the expert writes. All this confirms the thesis about the existence in North Korea of a large submarine with ballistic missiles, which was previously seen on satellite images during its construction.
An important detail needs to be clarified here: Romeo is nothing but the NATO classification of the 633 project mentioned above. Of course, placing ballistic missiles on board an old diesel-electric submarine is not a trivial task. According to earlier reports, the 633 project was significantly extended for this, but as Covert Shores notes, this is not necessarily the case. Most likely, the missile containers were located in the stern battery compartment right in front of the engine room. At the same time, the cabin was lengthened, and the creators had to sacrifice part of the interior of the boat. As for the number of missiles, their number varies from two to three: the Covert Shores portal depicts on the chart an option with three missile silos.
It is important to clarify one detail in order to avoid confusion. Earlier, North Korea has already built and commissioned at least one Gorae submarine, known in the West as Sinpo. This is a slightly smaller warship, probably capable of carrying one Pukkykson-1 ballistic missile.
Last argument
Thus, the DPRK received a strategic submarine, whose power can several times exceed the potential of a Gorae type submarine. But what exactly is the new boat armed with? At the beginning of the month, it became known that on October 2 of 2019, the DPRK made the first flight test of a new ballistic missile of the Pukkykson-3 submarine: the missile was launched from an underwater position from a submerged submarine near Wonsan in the Sea of Japan. The first launch took place at a range of 450 kilometers and with a maximum flight altitude at the top point of 910 kilometers. The North Koreans announced the launch successful.
Apparently, a Sinpo type submarine was used to test the rocket, while the modernized Romeo missile carrier should become the regular carrier of the Pukkykson-3. According to experts, the rocket is solid-fuel and two-stage, and its range in theory could be about 4000 kilometers. But this is in theory.
In any case, the DPRK’s progress is evident both in the creation of strategic submarines and in the development of SLBMs: it is enough to simply compare the appearance of the archaic “Puccukson-1” and the appearance of the “Puccukson-3”, which already looks like a “real” ballistic missile for submarines. However, exaggerating the achievements of the regime, of course, is not worth it. Moreover, it can be said with almost complete certainty that North Korea will never catch up with either Russia or the PRC in this direction. There is no need to even talk about the United States.
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