This post is from May 2012. Facts and links may have changed since. See more from that month

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Schmucker & Schiller on the SS-N-6

One of the discussions that Markus Schiller and I have about North Korea’s ballistic missile program centers on the SS-N-6 aka BM-25 aka Musudan ballistic missile.  I was skeptical of the missile at first — although we’ve subsequently seen a larger version on parade, a second stage on the Unha that looks like an SS-N-6, and NASIC has reported that North Korea has deployed the missile.  There are also reports of static engine tests.

Markus and Robert Schmucker, however, still have their doubts.  I am posting a paper, Explaining the Musudan: New Insights on the North Korean SS-N-6,  in which they argue that North Korea’s SS-N-6 capabilities are rather less than we commonly believe.

I am not so sure, but I am happy to host that discussion in the comments.

Jeffrey Lewis

Writing on ACW 2004–2026

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis is the founding publisher of Arms Control Wonk.com. He is the Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. His also a non-resident affiliate at Stanford's Center for Security and International Cooperation and a Contributing Editor to Survival.

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