Loitering munitions from North Korea

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Loitering munitions from North Korea
Kim Jong-un gets acquainted with new UAVs


North Korea is actively developing its own unmanned aerial vehicles aviation systems of different classes and recently took up the topic of loitering ammunition. The other day they showed two new kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicles, with which they are going to hit ground targets. Judging by the appearance of these products, North Korean industry was guided by foreign samples.



Under personal control


According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), on August 24, the leader of the DPRK, Comrade Kim Jong-un, accompanied by senior officials from the country's leadership, visited one of the training grounds. There he was shown new developments in the field of unmanned aircraft, namely loitering munitions.

A mini-exhibition of technology was organized by the Research Institute drones The National Defense Academy is the main developer of UAVs in the DPRK. Two new models of loitering munitions were presented at the site.

The country's leadership got acquainted with the exhibition samples and then observed their use at the test site. It is reported that loitering munitions flew along specified routes, searched for designated targets and successfully hit them. One of the devices successfully attacked a small stationary target, and the second hit the model for clarity tank.


Having familiarized himself with the new developments, Kim Jong-un noted their high characteristics and ordered to complete the tests as soon as possible and begin supplying such equipment to the army.

The DPRK leader also touched upon the topic of unmanned vehicles in general. He emphasized the great importance of such systems for modern armies and expressed a desire to accelerate the development of new projects of all major classes. The Korean People's Army needs unmanned aerial vehicles for various purposes, kamikaze boats and other similar systems.

KCNA illustrated the article about Kim Jong-un's visit to the training ground with several photographs. They show new samples of loitering ammunition at the exhibition, the launch of prototypes and the destruction of targets at the training ground.

For reasons of secrecy, KCNA did not disclose the appearance of the new loitering munitions. In the published photographs, these products are retouched, and their names, tactical and technical characteristics and other features are not published. However, the published images allow us to roughly understand what the new UAVs/BBs look like and how they work.

Korean "Lancet"


The first of the new BB/UAVs looks and in its architecture resembles Russian products of the Lancet series and similar foreign developments.


Launching loitering ammunition with X-shaped planes

This is an aircraft with an elongated fuselage and two X-shaped planes. In the nose of the product, despite the censorship, you can see an optical-electronic station. The power plant is an electric motor with a pusher propeller.

The dimensions of the UAV are unknown, but its length can be estimated at approximately 2 m, and the span of the main wing is 1,5 m. The mass is tens of kilograms.

According to KCNA, during the demonstration tests, the drone flew along a pre-programmed route, after which it detected and hit a target. This indicates the use of a combined control system. The flight to the target area is carried out using navigation devices of an unknown type, after which the EOS begins to operate. Whether the operator is involved in the target search and targeting process is unknown.

Taking into account foreign experience and foreign developments, it can be assumed that the Korean BB is equipped with a warhead weighing several kilograms. This can be a high-explosive fragmentation charge to hit a wide range of targets. It is worth paying attention to the fact that during testing the UAV attacked a tank. This may indicate the use of a cumulative warhead.



Target hit

Flight performance characteristics were not disclosed. However, foreign UAVs of a similar design demonstrate a flight speed of at least 150-200 km/h and can attack targets at a distance of tens of kilometers from the launch site.

The Korean loitering munition is launched from a tubular transport and launch container. The UAV is located in a TPK with folded planes and is thrown outward by a starting powder charge. Then its own engine turns on and the flight begins.

Israeli ideas


The second UAV has a different design, but its appearance also brings to mind the existing foreign model. When developing this product, the UAV Research Institute was probably guided by the Israeli Harop product.

Like the Harop, the Korean UAV is built according to the “duck” design. On the nose of its fuselage there is a trapezoidal front horizontal tail, behind which there is a delta wing with a broken leading edge. The vertical tail consists of two keels in the tail. In the center of the airframe there is a pair of small vertical planes.

The “Duck” from the Research Institute of Drones is equipped with a nose power unit and an electric power plant in the tail section. It is possible that both new UAVs/BBs use the same engines and camera package.


Start with a guide

In terms of size, this UAV is almost no different from the Korean Lancet, but the aerodynamic design allows for a significant increase in take-off weight and payload. At the same time, the mass of the UAV remains at the level of tens of kilograms, and it is equipped with a relatively light warhead.

It can be assumed that the two drones are also unified in terms of control systems. During testing, the product flew along a given route using a “duck” design, then detected a target at the training ground and attacked it. This requires navigation aids and, optionally, direct operator control.

The delta wing of the UAV/BB is not foldable, so take-off is carried out with a guide. The impulse for lifting and initial acceleration is provided by a solid fuel accelerator, which is reset after the fuel is exhausted.

A new direction


The DPRK, following the example of developed countries, began developing its own unmanned aerial systems of various classes quite a long time ago. First, light, medium and heavy UAVs designed for reconnaissance and strikes were created and attracted attention. Now Korean industry has begun to develop another important area.

The two UAVs recently presented to the head of state appear to be the first loitering munitions developed by North Korea. This indicates that the DPRK is really mastering a promising area and is ready to show its first successes.



Accurately hitting the target

The novelty of the topic explains the similarity of North Korean UAVs with foreign models. Lacking sufficient experience in creating such equipment, the Research Institute of UAVs turned to foreign ideas and solutions.

At the same time, we can speak with confidence only about the external similarity with foreign UAVs and some general architectural solutions. The two Korean products must differ from their foreign counterparts in the composition of on-board equipment, component base, production nuances, etc. There should also be a noticeable difference in tactical and technical characteristics.

Unfortunately, the closed nature of the two projects does not allow us to fully compare the new warheads/UAVs from the DPRK with foreign equipment, incl. with a similar Russian model. And we can hardly expect that the North Korean industry or army will share the most interesting information in the near future.

Great future


The DPRK is striving to create a powerful and effective army, equipped with all the necessary systems and weapons. To achieve this, the North Korean defense industry is developing various types of weapons and equipment, including unmanned aerial vehicles.

As it became known, the DPRK is now working in the field of loitering munitions. Such systems have great potential and are already being successfully used in practice. The Korean People's Army strives to follow current trends and orders similar systems for its needs. At the moment, two UAVs/BBs have already been developed, and new models are expected to appear in the future. It is very likely that new developments of this kind will no longer be similar to foreign models.
26 comments
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  1. +5
    28 August 2024 03: 23
    I wonder if the Korean comrades want to test the new equipment in real combat conditions? I know a place where these UAVs can be tested in practically unlimited quantities, and even get a good amount of money for it!
    1. +8
      28 August 2024 03: 39
      Kim Jong-un is generally a competent leader, he is interested in technology, asks questions about it, understands it, he recently came to us in Vladivostok, they took him on ships, there he asked in great detail about our weapons! We need to work closely with the DPRK, this is beneficial for both them and us! And they test new equipment in combat conditions and we receive ammunition from them, weapons and possibly army units, for them to gain combat experience and to help us!
    2. +3
      28 August 2024 05: 13
      I wonder if the Korean comrades want to test new equipment in real combat conditions?
      Or maybe they are already testing it. Who knows? wink
    3. 0
      28 August 2024 11: 03
      Quote from Andy_nsk
      I wonder if the Korean comrades want to test new equipment in real combat conditions?

      The Kamila Harim administration looks like it will soon lift sanctions on the DPRK and open the US and European markets for trade with the DPRK. Putin and Lavrov can play out their sanctions against North Korea within a few days until they lose their only friend and ally in the world. It seems that the United States has already announced that it no longer demands nuclear disarmament from the DPRK and has de facto recognized the status of a nuclear power for the DPRK.
    4. 0
      21 September 2024 23: 26
      Yo pienso es que si los probarán en el frente ucraniano.
  2. -14
    28 August 2024 05: 37
    including unmanned aerial vehicles.

    All these UAVs are not worth a damn without manned aircraft, with which the DPRK has catastrophic problems. And they are apparently in no hurry to solve them, because there is no information about the purchase of Russian or Chinese aircraft. Well, the flag is in their hands, and in the place where the South Korean Air Force will push it into them if something happens. The experience of recent wars shows that if you do not have total air superiority, you can safely raise the white flag, because sooner or later you will be crushed into dust by enemy aircraft.

    And no powerful missiles will save them. They were created to keep the Democrats in Washington on their toes, but this won’t work with South Korea.
    1. -10
      28 August 2024 06: 06
      Come on, minus, North Korea lovers. But the fact remains that without a modern air force, all the North’s attempts at modern tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, anti-tank systems, anti-tank systems, etc. are rubbish, fodder for the South Korean Air Force. When a squadron or two of modern fighters appear in the North, then we can talk.
    2. 0
      28 August 2024 11: 13
      Quote from DoctorRandom
      All these UAVs are not worth a damn without manned aircraft,

      Armenia had aviation, Azerbaijan had drones. Complete victory for Azerbaijan. One can also recall Wagner’s confrontation with Turkey in Libya. Aviation will soon be unmanned. Now the DPRK is on the defensive. Moreover, it seems to me that the North Koreans consider China and not South Korea their most likely enemy. In a period of threat against the United States, the DPRK will quickly receive modern jet aircraft from the PRC.
      1. 0
        28 August 2024 11: 35
        Armenia had aviation, Azerbaijan had drones. Complete victory for Azerbaijan.

        Invalid comparison.
        Azerbaijan also had aviation. Su-25 and Mig-29 flew more than 600 sorties in the second Karabakh conflict.
        Moreover, the aircraft are updated, with Belarusian BKO "Talisman" and Turkish electronics for pairing with the latest Turkish missiles and bombs (like SOM or LGK)
        1. +1
          28 August 2024 11: 56
          Quote: Nefarious skeptic
          Azerbaijan also had aviation. Su-25 and Mig-29 flew more than 600 sorties in the second Karabakh conflict.

          Turkish beyraktars hit more than 600 large targets: armored vehicles, vehicles, warehouses and fortified points. If Israel destroyed only 6 tanks during the 1100-day war, then the Beyraktars alone destroyed 114 tanks in the war for Karabakh. Let's assume that Israeli aircraft destroyed half of the tanks in that war. It is unlikely that modern aviation cost Israel 6 times more than beyraktars to Azerbaijan.
          1. +1
            28 August 2024 12: 00
            It's not at all clear what you're trying to say with this message.
            It is not even connected in meaning to either mine or your previous one.
            1. 0
              28 August 2024 12: 21
              Quote: Nefarious skeptic
              It is not even connected in meaning to either mine or your previous one.

              The effectiveness of Azerbaijani drones is approximately 15% of the effectiveness of Israeli manned aviation at the peak of its development and efficiency.
              1. 0
                28 August 2024 12: 26
                The effectiveness of Azerbaijani drones is approximately 15% of the effectiveness of Israeli manned aviation at the peak of its development and efficiency.

                A very strange conclusion. But even if you close your eyes to this, it still has no connection with the question with which the conversation began.
                For this, I bow out hi
                1. +2
                  30 August 2024 14: 04
                  Azerbaijan and S. Korea have similar aircraft fleets. The DPRK has more. The main strike weapons in the Azerbaijan Army were 500 kg corr bombs developed jointly with the Turks and Israeli/Turkish combat and reconnaissance drones.
                  Artillery was and remains the main weapon against South Korea. Drones will only increase the accuracy of fire. What is the argument here? But if the third underdeveloped countries were given drones, the DPRK could do a lot of damage there. Just as they could do a lot of harm to various white colonists in Asia and Africa
                  1. 0
                    30 August 2024 14: 19
                    What is the dispute about?

                    It's written above
                    Armenia had aviation, Azerbaijan had drones. Complete victory for Azerbaijan.

                    Invalid comparison.
                    Azerbaijan also had aviation.
      2. -3
        28 August 2024 15: 16
        Armenia had aviation

        And how, did you make many combat missions? Let's put aside the small-town conflicts of countries that can only hope for their neighbor, and with their air force they can only control who flies into their airspace and where. Let's take Iraq 2003 as an example, or at least the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. In the first case, aviation did most of the work, suppressing air defense in the first day, after which it flew over Iraq as if it were at home, pulverizing any pockets of resistance. Now Ukraine. Who has the advantage in aviation? The Russian Federation has, therefore the Russian Federation is attacking. And this is without total air space, that is, without flying into enemy territory because air defense is not suppressed. If there were no air defense, the Russian Armed Forces would have been stationed on the Dnieper long ago.

        Israel is also a great example. They have ground Gaza into dust, they are terrorizing Hezbollah, and they are also giving Iran and the Houthis a chance to light their cigarettes if something happens. And all because Israel has good intelligence and air force. What does North Korea have to do with this? Will these local Haropes and Lancets do a lot of good when the South Korean F-35, F-16, F-15 and their new product, the KAI KF-21, are in the air? And it would be okay if only things were bad with the Air Force, and even worse with air defense. Yes, it exists, but it is so ancient that it still remembers the collapse of the Union, and these are their most modern complexes - the S-300, without modifications.
        1. +1
          28 August 2024 23: 12
          Quote from DoctorRandom
          Yes, it exists, but it is so ancient that it still remembers the collapse of the Union, and these are their most modern complexes - the S-300, without modifications.

          Why do you think North Korean electronics are weaker than Russian ones? The DPRK was able to make modern automation for greenhouses, thereby eliminating the recurrence of famine on the scale of the “hard path” times. When building modern greenhouses, Russia uses purely Dutch equipment. The drone can conduct reconnaissance in conditions of enemy air dominance. The simplest example is the war in Gaza and with Hezbollah in Israel. Its losses in people are higher than during the 6-day war, although the enemy has no aviation, no tanks, no long-range artillery. In repelling massive drone attacks, Israel was assisted by the navy and air force of the United States, Great Britain and France. Of the modern weapons, only drones were used in Israel.
          1. -3
            29 August 2024 01: 34
            Firstly: You are not answering at all what I wrote. I clearly wrote that what will be the use of all these drones if the sky is controlled by South Korea? Since you highlighted the part about the S-300, do you have information that they underwent modernization, or that more modern analogues were created on their basis? But there is simply no such thing.

            Secondly, what do Israel's losses in Gaza have to do with it and how does it fight off attacks? The discussion was about why Israel can fight 3 Iranian proxies at once, and also give Iran a slap on the wrist, and it does all this mainly with the help of its powerful Air Force.

            It’s interesting about the losses in Gaza. Naturally, losses will be higher because:
            1. The fighting takes place in dense urban areas.
            2. The war has been going on for almost a year. Naturally, the losses will be greater than during the SIX-DAY war.

            Well, yes, I am never downplaying the achievements of the DPRK in the military-industrial complex (although it is still unknown whose merit this is - the Russian Federation, the PRC, or the DPRK). There is simply a fact - the air force and air defense of North Korea are in terrible condition, and as long as this is so, if the situation on the peninsula escalates, the North will have no chance to survive.
  3. +2
    28 August 2024 05: 52
    The DPRK is not only large warehouses of shells and missiles, but also a mobilization economy that can quickly build a lot of different things at the request of the right neighbor (unless, of course, high technology - no one will quickly promote it in the world) and in return let them keep the skills and technologies that were transferred to them . It’s not for nothing that some of their air defense systems resemble the S-300 and operate complexes similar to Iskander. North Korea can help Russia arm another half a million soldiers with artillery, missiles, and drones.
  4. +7
    28 August 2024 06: 24
    In the case of North Korea, I personally see the main thing: a country the size of a couple of regions, which has no natural resources, and has been subject to sanctions for decades, has been showing how to live and develop. She was able to put the United States on the spot and defended her interests through a pragmatic national policy. By the way, South Korea has also shown how to rationally use aid and investments in one’s own interests, without turning into a slave... We wish we could do that!
    1. +7
      28 August 2024 07: 49
      She was able to put the United States on the spot and defended her interests through a pragmatic national policy
      Obviously, it's all about leadership. When Comrade was at the helm of the country. Stalin's country also developed in the same way
  5. +2
    28 August 2024 08: 19
    unless, of course, high technology - no one will quickly promote it in the world

    Nuclear technologies are considered high technologies. On December 10, 2015, Kim Jong-un announced that the DPRK had a hydrogen bomb. After this, the DPRK carried out 4, 5 and 6 nuclear tests. On September 3, 2017, the DPRK leadership announced the successful testing of a warhead with a thermonuclear charge. The power of the explosion was 200-300 kt.
    It should be noted that of the 4 nuclear states that are not members of the nuclear club, Pakistan does not have thermonuclear weapons, and received nuclear technology from the PRC. India has announced the creation of thermonuclear weapons, but experts do not believe it. The USA and Canada helped India in creating nuclear weapons. Israel originally received nuclear weapons from France and may have thermonuclear weapons thanks to Jews who worked in the nuclear industry in the USA, Britain and France. At the same time, Israel did not conduct nuclear tests at all. Interestingly, China received outside help to create thermonuclear weapons. After the rupture of relations between the USSR and the PRC, all Soviet specialists left China. According to the plan, with the help of the USSR, China was supposed to receive thermonuclear weapons in 10-15 years. The Chinese government turned to Chinese physicists and engineers working abroad. Hundreds of highly qualified specialists of Chinese origin returned home from the United States and 3 years later China conducted the first test of a thermonuclear bomb.
    North Korea received a research nuclear reactor from the USSR, as did the socialist countries. camps. The USSR strictly controlled the acquisition of knowledge in nuclear technology and often sent back students and graduate students from the DPRK who had too much knowledge in this field and showed too much interest. The first Korean nuclear reactor was created according to the documentation of the European Magnox reactor received from the IAEA. After this, the DPRK did not receive any outside help.
    1. +2
      28 August 2024 08: 51
      Computer publications report that the DPRK is replacing Chinese equipment for cellular networks with its own. However, there is information that the DPRK is purchasing used Huawei equipment for the transition to 4G networks, which has already begun. South Korea said at the beginning of the year that North Korean hackers obtained documentation for chip production equipment from two large South Korean companies (the names of the companies were not disclosed). At the same time, for several years now, the DPRK has been producing smartphones that spiteful critics criticize, calling them budget. However, the element base for them may be produced in the DPRK. The opposite, in any case, has not been proven.
  6. +1
    28 August 2024 09: 43
    When developing this product, the UAV Research Institute was probably guided by the Israeli product Harop.

    Just like when developing the first one.
    Of course, some people like to think that our products are being copied, but what I saw looks more like Israeli HERO, not Russian Lancets. And it's not a matter of external similarity.
  7. +1
    28 August 2024 11: 55
    I see the North Koreans respect the Israeli military industry. They copy Spikes, Haropes, Hiro, by the way, like Iran.
  8. 0
    30 August 2024 13: 36
    What explains the X-shaped wings?
    Is there any explanation?
    Is there any interesting article on this topic?