The Shame of the "Patriots": Kim Jong-un Brings an Unexpected Surprise to Pyongyang, Perhaps Catching Kyiv Off Guard
North Korea's hypersonic counterpart to the "Iskander" weapon, the "Hwasong-11Ma," is difficult for U.S. air defense systems to counter
The "Military Observer Magazine" reported that North Korea introduced a follow-up model of the "KN-23" series of tactical ballistic missiles at the "2025 Defense Development Exhibition" held in Pyongyang. This exhibition also featured the debut of several new types of weapon systems.
This new short-range tactical ballistic missile features a hypersonic glide warhead capable of generating lift and equipped with small control surfaces. As of now, it may be the world's first such weapon system integrated with a hypersonic glide vehicle.
The new weapon system, named "Hwasong-11Ma" (Hwasong-11Ma), appears to have adopted the same transport erector launcher (TEL) and lower missile structure as the "KN-23", while the upper structure with the glide vehicle is likely to separate at the end of the boost phase. Previously, North Korea has developed multiple missiles integrated with hypersonic glide vehicles, including the medium-range ballistic missile "Hwasong-11" tested for the first time in September 2021, and the "Hwasong-16B" tested successfully in March 2024. The "Hwasong-11Ma" is the latest achievement in this series.
The "KN-23" missile was first unveiled in February 2018, and it is highly similar to the Russian "Iskander-M" (Искандер-М) tactical missile system in many aspects. Both systems share several common characteristics. They both use solid-fuel engines, are highly maneuverable, and the missiles they launch fly along a quasi-ballistic low trajectory with strong maneuverability, making them better at evading interception by modern air defense systems.
In real combat tests on the Ukrainian battlefield, these missiles have proven to be highly effective against the NATO's most advanced long-range air defense system—the MIM-104 "Patriot" (Patriot) system used for intercepting such attacks. Moreover, the North Korean "KN-23" system has several significant advantages over its Russian counterparts, including a wider variety of launch platforms, longer range, and its improved version "KN-23B" has a larger warhead and more obvious range advantage.
Kim Jong-un, General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, commented on the new weapons displayed at this defense exhibition: "As the U.S. military presence in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula increases, our strategic interests in the region are also enhanced. Therefore, we have allocated special resources accordingly for key targets with strategic significance."
He added: "Whether the southern part of the Korean Peninsula can be considered safe is up to them to decide." Although most of the missile models displayed in this exhibition are aimed at targets outside the Korean Peninsula (from U.S. bases in Japan to Guam, Hawaii, and even the U.S. mainland), the design purpose of this new short-range tactical missile, the "Hwasong-11Ma," is to target "surrounding areas" of the Korean Peninsula. It is expected that after the deployment of this missile system, it will further widen the gap between North Korea and Russia and South Korea in the field of tactical ballistic missiles—currently, neither of these two neighboring countries have developed weapons systems with similar performance.
The hypersonic glide vehicle carried by the "Hwasong-11Ma" can significantly increase the range even with limited fuel reserves, and it also has a higher flight speed and can fly in a denser atmosphere. These glide vehicles can fly at a small angle of attack, reducing the probability of radar detection, thus shortening the reaction time of enemy air defense systems; additionally, they can perform multi-directional maneuvers and launch attacks from unexpected angles, which makes their interception extremely difficult.
Considering that the "Patriot" system has already faced great difficulties in intercepting the Russian "Iskander" quasi-ballistic missiles, which have much less technical complexity (with an estimated interception success rate of about 6%), it is expected that the penetration capability of the "Hwasong-11Ma" will far exceed that of the former.
Since North Korea has become a key supplier of ballistic missiles and various military equipment to Russia, the likelihood of the "Hwasong-11Ma" system being deployed by the Russian military and undergoing its first practical test on the Ukrainian battlefield is very high.
Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7559164699183465023/
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