‘2·11 Factory’ in Hamheung Ryongseong Machinery Complex
KN-23, low-altitude orbit flight… Useful for evading Ukrainian air defenses
The ‘2·8 Vinalon Complex’ near rocket engine fuel production is also expanded.
North Korea is expanding a key weapons production complex that produces short-range missiles used by Russia in the Ukraine war, Sam Lehr, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, an American think tank, concluded based on an analysis of satellite images. Yahoo News reported on the 25th.
Yahoo News, citing a Reuters report, reported that the weapons production complex known as the ‘2/11 Factory’ is located in the Ryongseong Machinery Complex in Hamheung, North Korea’s second largest city.
Researcher Lehr said that this factory is the only factory in North Korea that produces the Hwasong-11 class solid fuel ballistic missile.
Ukrainian officials say the missile, known as the KN-23, was used in the Russian attack.
This is the first time that the expansion of the ‘2/11 Factory’ has been made known.
Both Russia and North Korea deny that North Korea provided arms to Russia. North Korea’s mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment.
Images taken in early October by commercial satellite company Planet Labs show construction of what appears to be additional assembly buildings and new housing facilities for workers, according to an analysis by CNS researchers.
North Korea also appears to be improving the entrances to some underground facilities in the complex. “It appears that an unused bridge crane in front of the tunnel entrance has been removed to highlight that part of the facility,” Lehr said. “This appears to be aimed at significantly increasing the factory’s production,” he said.
The new assembly building is approximately 60 to 70 percent of the size of the existing missile production building.
The KN-23 missile was first test-fired in May 2019 and is designed to fly low in a low orbit to avoid missile defenses, making it potentially useful to Russia as it seeks to penetrate Ukraine’s air defenses, experts said.
“Russia could launch thousands of missiles after invading Ukraine and ease the strain on its own production facilities by relying on North Korea for additional supplies,” Layer said.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency also reported that construction is underway at the Ryongsong Machinery Complex and that “we are pursuing projects to achieve the modernization goal planned for this year.”
Meanwhile, SI Analytics, another satellite imagery company, also confirmed new construction at the nearby 2·8 Vinalon Complex, which is believed to produce fuel for ballistic missiles, which could lead to increased production of solid propellants and the important liquid rocket engine fuel UDMH. He said it could be for this purpose.
(Seoul = Newsis)
Source: www.donga.com
