There was an article posted a couple of years ago about their aircraft capabilities. There was a link to Google maps showing the aircraft parked in various locations around bunkers. I looked at it, and it all looked scary, but looking at it closer, it looked like the aircraft hadn’t been moved in years. There was grass growing in the runways, and some of the aircraft kind of looked like models. If the North Koreans go to war, we’ll find out exactly which of the weapons are real and which are bluffs, and I am not sure the north wants people to find out.
I’ve seen those pictures and would agree with you; however, given the Nork expertise in tunnels, mountain and underground, I wonder how much or how many armaments, aviation assets and other supplies have been squirreled away? I suspect we have vast intel on all this and hope that we do.
I am concerned about the tunnels under the 38th parallel and into Seoul. I hope the ROKs have the ability to shut these down as soon as the first shot is fired.
Most of the aircraft that they operate are out of the 1960s, and spare parts are a luxury. I would be curious if some of the MIG-17s get more than a dozen sortie flights per year. Fuel-wise, if the Chinese did cut off the flow as suggested in the news media....I doubt if the NK military can sustain more than two weeks of any active warfare.
They use other air force subterfuges, as well. Their Kalma Interntional Airport", for example, has two jetways that are never moved, exactly 100 parking spaces that are never occupied, and a pristine, white concrete runway and apron with zero airliner landing and taxiing tire marks. IOW, the "public airport" is fake -- and the facility is a poorly-disguised air force base.
It 's extra (unpaved) runway is also used as a temporary launch site for mobile-launcher missiles...
But, yeah -- some of those planes parked out in the open may well be dummies...