Global Courant 2023-04-14 14:55:17
INTERPRETER
A look at the characteristics of solid fuel technology and how it can help North Korea improve its missile systems.
North Korea says it has successfully tested a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the first known use of the propellant in a longer-range projectile.
But what exactly is a solid fuel rocket and why is it important to have one?
What is Solid Fuel Technology?
Solid propellants are a mixture of fuel and oxidizer. Metal powders such as aluminum often serve as fuel and ammonium perchlorate, the salt of perchloric acid and ammonia, is the most common oxidizer.
The fuel and oxidizer are bonded together by a hard rubbery material and packaged in a metal casing.
When solid propellant burns, oxygen from the ammonium perchlorate combines with aluminum to generate massive amounts of energy and temperatures in excess of 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius), creating thrust and lifting the rocket off the launch pad.
What is the advantage of this technology?
Solid fuel is dense and burns quite quickly, generating thrust in a short time. Separately, it can be stored for an extended period of time without deteriorating or breaking down – a common problem with liquid fuel.
Vann Van Diepen, a former US government weapons expert who now works with the Washington-based North Korea monitoring project 38 North, said solid-fuel rockets are easier and safer to operate. They also require less logistical support, making them more difficult to detect and more survivable than liquid fuel weapons.
According to Joseph Dempsey, a research associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, one of the main advantages is that solid-fuel rockets can be “fuelled from the point of manufacture.”
“They therefore enable operators to maintain a high state of readiness and the potential to launch in minutes, depending on the base,” Dempsey wrote in a statement. analysis earlier this year.
In contrast, a liquid fuel ICBM would have to undergo a refueling process before launch, Dempsey said. That could take hours, giving an adversary time to identify, respond and neutralize it before launching.
Who has this technology?
Solid fuel dates back to the fireworks developed by the Chinese centuries ago, but made dramatic progress in the mid-20th century as the United States developed more powerful propellants.
The Soviet Union fielded its first solid-fueled ICBM, the RT-2, in the early 1970s, followed by France’s development of its S3, also known as SSBS, a medium-range ballistic missile.
China began testing solid fuel ICBMs in the late 1990s.
South Korea said on Friday it already had “efficient and advanced” solid propellant ballistic missile technology.
Why is North Korea investing in solid fuel ICBM?
North Korea said development of its new solid-fuel ICBM, the Hwasong-18, would “radically advance” its nuclear counter-attack capability.
The official Korean Central News Agency quoted leader Kim Jong-un as saying that the Hwasong-18 would further support an aggressive military strategy that promises to maintain “atomic bomb for nuclear bomb and all-out confrontation for all-out confrontation” against North Korea’s rivals .
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter Kim Ju Ae attend a test launch of a new solid fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Hwasong-18, at an undisclosed location (Reuters)
What comes next?
South Korea’s defense ministry tried to play down the tests, saying the North would need “additional time and effort” to master the technology.
Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the US-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the North could run into difficulties making sure such a large rocket doesn’t fall apart when the booster’s diameter increases.
While the Hwasong-18 may not be a “game changer,” he said, it will most likely complicate the calculations of the United States and its allies during a conflict.
“The primary interest of the United States and its allies is to mitigate the risks of nuclear use and escalation resulting from North Korea’s possession of these weapons,” Panda said.
After North Korea’s launch on Friday, South Korea and the US conducted a joint air exercise involving a US B-52 bomber.
A TV screen shows footage of North Korea’s missile launch during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea (Ahn Young-joon/AP)
