Posted on 06/09/2014 9:02:35 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
North Korea has a new anti-ship missile with a range of 130 km that poses a big threat to South Korea's elderly patrol corvettes.
A recent propaganda film shown on North Korean state TV shows the missile is similar to the U.S.' Harpoon missile, a military source here said Sunday. "It's probably either the Russian-developed Kh-35 Uran or a copy."
The missile was shown among the country's closely guarded submarines, which were also featured for the first time.
The Kh-35 was developed in Russia in the mid-90s and has been exported to Burma, India and Vietnam. It is hard to intercept as it flies 4 to 15 m above the waters.
South Korea's Aegis and other newer destroyers are equipped with rapid-fire machine guns and electronic warfare systems that can intercept or disturb such a missile. But older patrol corvettes or escort ships, whose duties lie mainly near the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border, have no such weapons so the missiles could pose a significant threat to them.
Until recently, the North Korean Navy had only the Styx missile, which was developed in the 50s with a range of 46 km, rising to 80 km in the improved version, and that is vulnerable to electronic jamming.
Military authorities here are reportedly trying to find out where the North bought the Kh-35 missiles, on the assumption that it was clandestinely imported from a third country like Burma.
Active Duty ping.
Might be time to add CIWS or electronic warfare systems to some of those older boats then
For the general FYI, a comparison of the two missiles:
SSN-2 “Styx” http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/ss-n-2.htm
KH-35 “Kayak” http://www.enemyforces.net/missiles/kh_35.htm
I’d guess that the version of the KH-35 the NorComs have is less sophisticated and less accurate than the Russian domestic version, but it still looks like a pretty bad mother. Especially for boats without modern air defenses.
Even a “dud” cannon or missile hit on EVERY post-WWII vessel smaller than a cruiser hit since 1950 has caused either a
loss of electric power
loss of electronics and radar and CIC
loss of control of the ship
loss of steering or propulsion
loss of hull integrity
loss of hull strength
loss of anti-sub ability (helicopter or CIC or radar or power or all of the above)
loss of gunfire or missile or both
or
complete loss of the ship.
So,
ANY SINGLE HIT ON A MODERN SHIP WILL CAUSE IT TO FAIL.
We are now in a “toothpick ships and wooden men” Navy.
bump
modern ships seem to be made of aluminum foil when an explosion takes place.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.