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N. Korea launches ballistic missile submarine: gov't sources
Yonhap News ^ | 2014/11/02

Posted on 11/01/2014 7:24:59 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster

N. Korea launches ballistic missile submarine: gov't sources

2014/11/02 08:00

SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has launched a new submarine capable of firing ballistic missiles, military and government sources in Seoul said Sunday, raising further concerns over the North's evolving missile and nuclear threats.

The communist country "imported a Soviet-era Golf-class diesel submarine and modified it," a government source said on condition of anonymity. The Soviet vessel was built in 1958 and decommissioned in 1990.

"The new submarine is 67 meters long with a beam of 6.6 meters, and has a dived displacement in the 3,000-ton range," the source said.

Despite a series of reports on Pyongyang's possible development of a new submarine, Seoul military officers have said Pyongyang has not yet acquired technology to deploy submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).

The Russian 3,500-ton Golf II class submarine carries the R-21 SLBM, a single-stage, liquid-propellant missile with a 1,180-kilogram warhead and a maximum range of 1,420 kilometers.

"The North's new vessel is what the website 38 North reported last month as 'an unidentified submarine' moored in a boat basin at the Sinpo South Shipyard, citing its review of satellite imagery," the source said.

The website is run by the U.S. Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

As the North's primary submarine manufacturing facility in South Hamgyong Province on the east coast, the Sinpo shipyard is home to the headquarters of its Maritime Research Institute of the Academy of National Defense Sciences.

In a move to mount a missile tube on the new vessel, the communist country has carried out dozens of tests both on the ground and at sea, another source said.

"According to the analysis of satellite imagery revealed by 38 North, a ground test facility for the SLBM launch has been up and running at the Sinpo shipyard," he said, adding a dozen more tests would be required to perfect the technology.

His comments are in line with what arms expert Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. said in his report this month that North Korea has built "a new test stand" at Sinpo to research and develop SLBMs. He said that the installation has a 35-by-30-meter concrete pad with an approximately 12-meter-high test stand.

"It would take one or two years before the North completes the test for the vertical launch of missiles from the sea," said a military source in Seoul, expressing security concerns as Pyongyang has also been working on miniaturizing nuclear warheads for its missiles.

The belligerent regime has more submarines than the South, albeit being equipped with outdated weapons. It is believed to have some 70 submarines including some 20 1,800-ton Romeo-class submarines.

As part of efforts to bolster its anti-submarine capabilities in the wake of the North's deadly attack of its warship of Cheonan in 2010, South Korea is planning to put six 3,000-ton ballistic missile submarines into operation starting 2027. The sinking killed 46 South Korean sailors, while Pyongyang has denied any involvement.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: ballisticmissiles; boomer; nkorea; nksub; slbm
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1 posted on 11/01/2014 7:24:59 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
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To: TigerLikesRooster; AmericanInTokyo; Steel Wolf; nuconvert; MizSterious; endthematrix; ...

P!


2 posted on 11/01/2014 7:25:24 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster (The way to crush the bourgeois is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Where is the pic of Dear Leader in the sub, causing its displacement to rise to 3,001 tons??


3 posted on 11/01/2014 7:29:59 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Wasn’t it a Golf that the Glomar Explorer tried plucking off the bottom of the Pacific?


4 posted on 11/01/2014 7:33:33 PM PDT by cardinal4 (Certified Islamophobe..)
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: TigerLikesRooster

I think he was stuck


6 posted on 11/01/2014 7:35:18 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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Comment #7 Removed by Moderator

To: TigerLikesRooster

Is it me or does it look like the sub is listing to his side?


8 posted on 11/01/2014 7:35:59 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

That conning tower doesn’t look very streamlined or soundproofed to me


9 posted on 11/01/2014 7:37:08 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Bump


10 posted on 11/01/2014 7:38:47 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar (Resist in place.)
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To: GeronL
The sheer volume of his body can definitely create an optical illusion, since everybody else around him is so emaciated. For a country where most people have successful in their diet, he is the only one miserably failing.
11 posted on 11/01/2014 7:39:08 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster (The way to crush the bourgeois is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Yeah, but have they invented waterproof matches so they can light the fuse on it?


12 posted on 11/01/2014 7:44:29 PM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: GeronL

its a 1958 soviet sub.


13 posted on 11/01/2014 7:53:46 PM PDT by Secret Agent Man ( Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Given how much rust I see on this rust-bucket, I have to wonder if that open window in the conning tower can be closed and sealed so this sub can dive. Wonder how deep this tub can go?


14 posted on 11/01/2014 8:03:24 PM PDT by miele man
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To: TigerLikesRooster

A liquid fueled ICBM, a Soviet Era Sub designed more than 50 years ago and seawater!!!! I mean what could possibly go wrong here.


15 posted on 11/01/2014 8:06:11 PM PDT by Trueblackman (As a Conservative, I am proud to be on the Obama's enemy list and on the right side of history..)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

16 posted on 11/01/2014 8:22:53 PM PDT by JPG (tagline is taking a break until after the election)
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To: TigerLikesRooster

A Nork boomer. Getting a crew to work in that bad boy must have taken some convincing.


17 posted on 11/01/2014 8:29:54 PM PDT by lurk
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To: GeronL

“That conning tower doesn’t look very streamlined or soundproofed to me”

1950’s soviet boat. Total joke. And a boat that old? Hope they have Edger from the Northwestern to Micky Mouse the repair work.


18 posted on 11/01/2014 8:33:07 PM PDT by LevinFan
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To: TigerLikesRooster

Does that sub look like it was cobbled together from pieces of a 1953 Buick, or is it just me?


19 posted on 11/01/2014 9:01:23 PM PDT by Minutemen ("It's a Religion of Peace")
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To: TigerLikesRooster

he has his own gravity field and the skinny ones are all orbiting him


20 posted on 11/01/2014 9:09:48 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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