South Korea presented its new strategic missile this Tuesday Hyunmoo-5. He did it during the parade of Armed Forces Daywhich included some 5,000 troops and 100 pieces of heavy military equipment who marched through Seoul. Among all of them, he highlighted this ballistic missile which has the heaviest warhead in the world and is capable of destroying bunkers 100 meters deep.
In the parade two launch vehicles could be seen, already known as ‘monster missile’which make use of 9 axes that can move their 18 wheels at a 45 degree angle to be able to drive diagonally and improve your mobility. Each of them carried a container of approximately 20 meters long which housed a ‘high-power’ and ‘high-precision’ missile, capable of targeting anywhere in North Korea.
With 9 tonsthe warhead of the Hyunmoo-5 is approximately twice that of the upgraded version of the KN-23 recently revealed by North Korea. With a total weight of 36 tons and a push of 75Hyunmoo-5 follows a ‘lofted trajectory’, flying through the exosphere to enhance its penetration capabilities before descending on its target at speeds ten times the speed of sound. That is to say, Mach 10 or 12,350 km/h.
Its range is up to 3,000 km, depending on the size of the integrated warhead. The Hyunmoo-5, which is equipped with a two stage solid fuel enginehas a length of approximately 16 meters and a diameter of 1.6m.
The missile employs a unique cold launch system, which uses compressed gas to propel it before ignition. This technique minimizes damage to the launcher and increases the operational stability of the missile.
Described by Seoul as a retaliatory weapon intended to counter North Korean threatsthe Hyunmoo-5 is designed to penetrate deeply buried tunnels and bunkers, which could cause effects comparable to those of nuclear weapons without crossing the nuclear threshold.
The missile has been designed by the Defense Development Agency of South Korea in coordination with Hanwha Aerospace. The latter began manufacturing at the end of 2023, after a long period of testing and evaluations.
South Korea has a variety of Hyunmoo missiles in its arsenal. At last year’s Armed Forces Day parade, the South Korean Army presented the Hyunmoo-4 with a payload of around two tonnes and also designed to penetrate underground command centers and detonate to bury them.
Hanwha Aerospace is the manufacturer of the different Hyunmoo missiles, which are equipped with evasion systems to counter enemy air defense. South Korea’s Strategic Command plans to have more than 200 Hyunmoo-5 missiles. In addition to the V series, new variants of the missiles are being developed and produced Hyunmoo-2, 3 and 4.
After unveiling the new missile, South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeolwarned of a ‘decisive and overwhelming retaliation’ if North Korea tried to use nuclear weapons against his country.