North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally guided the test launch of the new missile, which covered a distance of 1,000 kilometers (over 620 miles) reaching a maximum altitude of 101.1 kilometers (almost 63 miles) before dipping and flying at an altitude of 72.3 kilometers (some 45 miles).
The test-fire was aimed at confirming the designed technical specifications of the new-type intermediate-range hypersonic missile as a whole and verifying the reliability of this weapon system, TASS reported.
It was conducted in the way of verifying the characteristics of gliding-skip flight orbit and cross-range maneuvering capability of the hypersonic glide vehicle (warhead) while confining its range to less than 1,000 kilometers, in consideration of safety, and forcibly controlling the speed and altitude by means of delaying the start-up of the second-stage engine and rapidly changing the flight orbit in the active region.
Following the test-launch on Tuesday Kim Jong Un announced that North Korea’s all tactical, operational, and strategic-level missiles would be equipped with solid fuel engines and would be capable of carrying maneuverable nuclear warheads.
MP/PR