Defense Strategy Against North Korea: Unveiling the Surface-to-Air Weapon Systems

On October 27, the military specialist media ‘Defense Security Asia’ reported that Saudi Arabia is preparing to purchase the ‘Korean Patriot’. The Korean weapon system that Saudi Arabia is interested in is LIG Nex1’s Cheongung-2 (also known as ‘Korean Patriot’) air defense system. It was reported that Saudi Arabia is likely to follow its neighbor, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in purchasing this air defense system to protect its airspace.

Recently, the local Malaysian military specialist media DEFENCE SECURITY ASIA also reported that the Malaysian government is considering introducing LIG Nex1’s Cheongung to strengthen its air defense capabilities. The media reported on Cheongung as “a mid-range air defense system used by the Korean military” and said, “It has a history of exports worth $3.5 billion (approximately 4 trillion won) to the UAE, and it is known to have entered the final negotiations with Saudi Arabia.”

All over the world, our military’s developed and operated surface-to-air intercept missiles are attracting attention and being purchased in large quantities. What could be the reason? The US Patriot, the most powerful air defense system, and the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system are as expensive as they are effective. Even Saudi Arabia, a petroleum-rich country, feels the burden. The Patriot costs more than 700 billion won per battery. Moreover, Saudi Arabia cannot control it as it wishes. Saudi Arabia entrusts the operation to RTX (formerly Raytheon), the manufacturer of the Patriot.

On the other hand, many countries are seeking the Korean version of the Patriot, known as a cheap and high-quality air defense system. Military expert Choi Hyun-ho said, “The US is slow in delivery and expensive, and often the approval of the US Congress is a stumbling block,” and “On the other hand, Cheongung has the competitiveness of performance, fast delivery, and the ability to improve according to the conditions of the exporting country, so many countries prefer the Korean air defense system.” The American Patriot missile costs $4 million each, or about 5 billion won, while the Korean Patriot Cheongung missile costs only 1.7 billion won.

Last year, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a neighboring country of Saudi Arabia, signed a contract to purchase the ‘Cheongung-2’, a domestic medium-range surface-to-air guided missile (M-SAM), worth $3.5 billion (approximately 4.73 trillion won).

There are three main types of guided missiles used by our military for air defense over the Korean Peninsula. First, there is the ‘HAWK’ missile. The acronym stands for ‘Homing All The Way Killer’, which means a guided missile that tracks and shoots down the target at all costs’. The HAWK missile is a missile automatic firing control device used in the United States in the 1960s.

It adopts a semi-active guidance system to match the radar and the target for interception. The effective altitude is 11 miles, the target detection range is 18~25 miles, and the possible interception range reaches 12~15 miles. The effective range is 25 miles.

The most distinctive feature of the HAWK missile is that it has an automated firing control device (AN/TSQ-73) system. It automatically performs procedures such as target processing, threat priority determination, and interception confirmation of the target. Also, it has excellent mobility and is used for field position defense. It can shoot down enemy aircraft infiltrating at a low altitude of about 98ft, and is used in various operational strategies.

In July 2021, the last mission of the HAWK missile ended with the retirement of the 2970 unit under the 1st Air Defense Guided Missile Brigade (1st Brigade).

The HAWK missile was first introduced to our military in 1983. Since then, it has performed the mission of combat control effectively by transmitting target information from the Central Operations Control Center and target information detected by the subordinate units to the subordinate units for the launch of surface-to-air missiles, and issuing firing control orders.

‘HAWK’, suitable for intercepting low-altitude and mid-altitude infiltrating enemy aircraft

The HAWK missile is the first mid-range mobile surface-to-air missile developed by Raytheon in the United States. It was developed after World War II and introduced in 1960. During the Cold War, it established itself as NATO’s main medium-range air defense missile. It has the most interception cases among Western anti-aircraft missiles, including the Middle East War and the Iran-Iraq War. Many countries are currently operating it as an improved and active-duty version.

It is a semi-active guidance system. The warhead uses a Blast-fragmentation warhead. There is the MIM-23K/J type, which increases the amount of fragments dispersed for TBM (Tactical Ballistic Missile) defense. One launcher is equipped with three missiles. The minimum firing altitude is 60m, which is suitable for shooting down North Korean military An-2s and others infiltrating at low altitudes. Of course, the Patriot missile also has a minimum firing altitude of 196.85ft, and the Cheongung, based on the S-300/S-400, is also 98ft, so it is evaluated that there is no competitive advantage.

The late improved version owned by the U.S. Marine Corps has demonstrated limited anti-ballistic missile combat capabilities. Kongsberg of Norway is promoting the latest HAWK system, HAWK XXI (21), which combines the HAWK’s combat control system and launcher with a new radar, software, and new missile (AIM-120 AMRAAM or ESSM ground launch type).

HAWK is a guided weapon system designed to protect major facilities from enemy aircraft infiltrating at low and medium altitudes. A single HAWK battery consists of a detection radar, a target tracking radar, and six launchers. Since one launcher is equipped with three missiles, one battery is armed with 18 missiles.

The missile range is about 40km and the maximum operating altitude is about 18km. The length is 16.7ft, the diameter is 37cm, and the wing width is 3.9ft. The weight is 1300.7lb and the warhead weight is 119.05lb, which is a blast fragmentation type. The speed is Mach 2.7, which can intercept almost all aircraft and cruise missiles.

If the HAWK missile is a low-to-mid altitude intercept missile, the Nike (NIKE) missile is a medium-to-high altitude missile. It was created by Raytheon in the United States in the 1950s. Our military has been introducing and operating it since 1965.

It is capable of not only intercepting and infiltrating enemy aircraft but also striking major ground targets. The equipment operated by our military is the ‘Nike Hercules’ (Nike-Hercules), an improved version of the ‘Nike Ajax’ (Nike-Ajax), the world’s first surface-to-air guided missile. Nike is the goddess of victory in ancient Greek mythology, and Hercules means a strong man, known as Heracles in our country.

The Nike missile is used as a surface-to-surface or surface-to-air missile. In the case of surface-to-air, its range reaches up to 96.3 miles. It is equipped with a system that can automatically explode within 3 seconds in the event of a misfire. It flies at a maximum altitude of 154,200 feet, a range of 87 miles, and a top speed of Mach 3.65. As of May 30th, 2014, the Nike was retired and a retirement ceremony was held for the unit.

It is a long-range missile that uses vacuum tubes, and its size and weight are enormous. Normally, it is laid down and then erected for launch during training. The Nike missile is not a fire-and-forget system. After the missile is launched, the fire control radar detects the target’s position and continuously transmits that data to the missile in flight to guide its direction.

In other words, when the target is detected by the radar, the computer verifies the altitude, speed, and location, then launches the missile and guides the launched missile with radio waves to shoot down the target. In the past, each Air Force battery responsible for surface-to-air missions had three launch units, each with six shots, for a total of 18 shots.

‘Nike’, Surface-to-Air and Anti-Missile Interceptor Missiles

There are four main types of Nike missiles: Ajax, Hercules, Zeus, and X (Spartan and Sprint). The South Korean military operated the ‘Nike Hercules’.

The Nike Ajax, which was put into practical use in the mid-1950s, is the first surface-to-air missile. The warhead is usually an explosive with a length of 20 feet, a diameter of 0.98 feet, and a weight of about 1 ton. It has a maximum range of 28 miles, an altitude of 14.3 miles, and a top speed of Mach 2.5. The Nike Hercules, an improved version of the Ajax, was put into practical use in the late 1950s. It can use both nuclear warheads and conventional warheads. It is 26.9 feet long, 2.5 feet in diameter, and weighs up to 4.5 tons. Nike Ajax has a maximum range of 87 miles (130 miles for the improved version), a maximum altitude of 28 miles, and a top speed of Mach 3.

The Nike Zeus is a surface-to-air missile for intercepting intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and medium-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs). After a test in the Pacific in 1962, its effectiveness was questioned, leading to the development of its improved version, the Spartan. The Nike X is a composite anti-ballistic missile (ABM) consisting of the ‘Spartan’ for wide-area defense outside the atmosphere and the ‘Sprint’ for point defense within the atmosphere.

‘Spartan’ is an improved version of Zeus with a maximum range of several hundred kilometers and a warhead of 1~2 Mt thermonuclear weapon, characterized by the use of the effects of X-rays and neutrons outside the atmosphere. ‘Sprint’ was designed to intercept at an altitude of about 30km in the atmosphere, being able to identify the enemy’s warhead and decoy. It is a high-acceleration missile equipped with a kt-class nuclear warhead.

Medium-range air defense-guided weapons require all technologies such as precision strike technology, surveillance, tracking, command and control, missile→radar→combat control center linkage, etc., to be systematically implemented. Our military began to develop air defense-guided weapons on its own in the 1980s. The development of the ‘Cheonma’, a short-range surface-to-air guided weapon, in the late 1980s, and the ‘Shingung’, a portable surface-to-air guided weapon, in the 1990s were the starting points.

Based on the successful development of Cheonma and Shingung, the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) began developing the ‘Cheongung’, a medium-range surface-to-air guided weapon, in 2000. ‘Cheongung’ means ‘weapon given by heaven’. Although its interception altitude of 24.9~93.2 miles is lower than that of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD·SAD) system, it is one of the means of the Korean Missile Defense (KAMD) system and is called ‘Korean SAD’ (K-THAAD).

‘Cheongung’ is a medium-range surface-to-air guided missile developed with pure domestic technology, which our technical team developed after 11 years of research. It is evaluated to have high electronic warfare capability, fast missile speed, and accurate hit rate compared to the existing Hawk. It is also possible to attack multiple targets at once with one radar. The operation preparation time is short, and it can be operated with a small number of people.

Cheongung detects targets with a multifunction radar. When it detects an enemy aircraft, it starts tracking accurately. While the existing Hawk uses five radars to detect and track enemy aircraft at different altitudes, Cheongung does all the functions of five Hawk radars with just one radar. This is why it is possible to immediately respond by firing missiles as long as there are launchers, even if dozens of enemy aircraft and enemy missiles fly at the same time.

When the radar detects and tracks an enemy aircraft, the combat control center issues a command. The control center assesses the threat of the enemy aircraft and determines the combat situation to avoid overlap with other units or friendly aircraft, and then orders the missile launch. For this, it has a system that can quickly deploy joint operations with other air defense units and friendly aircraft, and it also determines the response order by analyzing the threat level according to the location and speed of the enemy aircraft.

‘Cheongung’, Maximum Range 24.9 miles·Intercept at 9.3 miles Altitude

When the launch command is given, the missile is launched from the launcher. The Cheongung launcher adopts a vertical launch method for launching in all directions. The Hawk has to predict the location where the enemy aircraft is flying and aim the launcher in that direction before launching. Moreover, Cheongung can even vertically launch to shorten the time it takes for the missile to orient.

Vertical launching goes through two stages. First, compressed gas lifts the missile to a certain height. When it reaches a safe location, the guided missile is oriented towards the target and the rocket is ignited to fly quickly towards the target. The launched missile changes direction using a side thruster with a small micromotor. This is because the missile’s speed is slow at the beginning of launch and a side thruster is needed to change direction.

The launched missile first flies towards the expected interception point based on the information provided by the radar using inertial navigation. During flight, the surface of the missile is rapidly heated due to air friction. The radome at the very front of the missile must withstand heat and high pressure up to 1,832℉ while transmitting and receiving radio waves.

When the missile gets close to the enemy aircraft, it opens its eyes on its own. The seeker operates and tracks the enemy aircraft. This is possible by applying an active microwave seeker. If the enemy aircraft performs evasive maneuvers, the side thruster operates again to chase and shoot down the enemy aircraft without taking a long time to turn. When the missile is close to the enemy aircraft, it either hits directly or the proximity fuse explodes and attacks the enemy aircraft with fragments and shock waves.

Cheongung is equipped with a directional warhead that significantly reduces the weight of the warhead while increasing its power. Unlike ordinary fragment warheads that spread in all directions, Cheongung’s warhead focuses on the direction of the target and explodes to shoot it down.

The maximum range of Cheongung is 24.9 miles, and it is used to intercept objects flying at an altitude of about 9.3 miles, especially enemy aircraft. Cheongung can load eight guided missiles per launcher, and it is possible to fire single or burst shots in a short interval of a few seconds from one launcher. One Cheongung battery consists of a multifunction radar, a combat control center, a launcher, and guided missiles.

By. Hyun Ho Lee