Some of Pyongyang’s surface-to-air missiles are old, but its newer ones could threaten American aircraft
By Marcus Weisgerber; DefenseOne:
Could North Korea make good its threat, delivered on Monday, to shoot down American warplanes near its coastline?
“I don’t think it’s something that can be dismissed,” said Tom Karako, who runs the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
North Korea’s surface-to-air missiles include S-200s acquired from the Soviet Union in the 1980s. But it also has a newer missile, the KN-06, which is similar to newer, more modern Russian and Chinese weapons.
Like the ICBMs being tested by North Korea, the KN-06 is mobile, so its location is not always known.
“I don’t think any pilot would fail to take [air defenses] seriously,” Karako said.
The S-200 air defense system “should be well-known to the U.S.as it was operated by Libya and Syria, as well as Poland and the Czech Republic — the latter two are now NATO members,” Byron Callan, an analyst with Capital Alpha Partners, wrote in a note to investors this week.
To read rest of article visit DefenseOne.
