I’ve been trying to keep track of the really impressive rate of missile testing in the DPRK over the past year plus now — not least because I was the only weirdo for a long time arguing that North Korea was testing an extended-range Toksa. (You have no idea how much crap I got for this blog post and column that in retrospect were correct, FYI. )
The pace of testing has been really high. After a US official talked about “turning up the volume” on the message to Pyongyang to return to Six Party Talks, I suggested making sure it was loud enough for Kim to hear over all the rocket and artillery fire.
I ended up geolocating the Wonsan test site, which helped sort out some of the rocket types. I’ve noticed that Kim Jong Un has started appearing with a green backdrop that makes “over the shoulder” geolocation a bit more difficult. Perhaps a coincidence.
Anyway, below is my best guess at a running list of tests since the beginning of 2014. It’s not perfect, but I’d love to crowd-review it in the comments. And, in case you like really, really loud music, I’ve stuck a little earcandy at the end for you.
|
2014-2015 DPRK Launches of Rocket Artillery and Ballistic Missiles |
|||||
|
Date |
No. |
YTD |
Type | Description in ROK or DPRK press | |
|
1 |
1/7/14 |
4 |
4 |
300mm MLRS | |
|
2 |
2/27/14 |
2 |
6 |
Scud | “Scud series” |
|
3 |
3/3/14 |
2 |
8 |
Scud | “Scud-C type” |
|
4 |
3/4/14 |
3 |
11 |
240mm MLR | |
|
5 |
3/4/14 |
4 |
15 |
“300 mm KN-09” | |
|
6 |
3/16/14 |
25 |
40 |
Frog | “assumed…to be the so-called FROG” |
|
7 |
3/22/14 |
30 |
70 |
rockets “flown around 60 kilometers” | |
|
8 |
3/23/14 |
16 |
84 |
“30 FROG ground-to-ground rockets” | |
|
9 |
3/26/14 |
2 |
86 |
Nodong | “Rodong class” |
|
10 |
6/26/14 |
3 |
93 |
ER KN-02 | “ultra-precision tactical guided missiles” |
|
11 |
6/29/14 |
2 |
91 |
Scud | “missiles travelled up to 500km” |
|
12 |
7/2/14 |
2 |
93 |
“ presumed to be 300-millimeter … KN-09” | |
|
13 |
7/9/14 |
2 |
95 |
Scud | “Scud-type” |
|
14 |
7/13/14 |
2 |
97 |
Scud | “two missiles … traveled around 500km” |
|
15 |
7/26/14 |
1 |
98 |
Scud | “Scud type” |
|
16 |
7/30/14 |
4 |
102 |
“presumed … 300-millimeter” MLRS | |
|
17 |
8/14/14 |
5 |
107 |
ER KN-02 | “ultra-precision high-performance tactical rocket” |
|
18 |
9/1/14 |
1 |
108 |
ER KN-02 | “presumed…new type of tactical missile” |
|
19 |
9/6/14 |
3 |
111 |
ER KN-02 | “novel tactical missiles” |
|
20 |
2/1/15 |
1 |
112 |
KH-35 | “ultra-precision anti-ship rocket” |
|
21 |
2/8/15 |
5 |
117 |
ER KN-02 | “new type of tactical missile…test-fired last year” |
|
Sources: Yonhap News; South Korean Ministry of Defense, Japanese Ministry of Defense, United States Department of State. Thank you to Detlef Kroeze for assisting in the preparation of this table. Notes: There are 2 “phantom” rockets somewhere in the data set. I am reasonably sure they are located in the artillery firings conducted between 16-23 March. I have removed them from the cumulative total. The Scud and Nodong launches are all accounted for. The ROK MND only belatedly admitted to misidentifying a number of extended-range (ER) KN-02 launches as being for a 300 mm MLRS. All references to a 300 mm MLRS have been removed. In instances where I am not confident the system tested was an extended-range KN-02, I have left the missile type blank. |
|||||