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Subject:
Taepo Dong 2 considerations
TrustButVerify
6/24/2006 10:36:33 AM
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Let's talk about the North Korean Taepo Dong 2 which is getting so much press attention. How seriously should the TD2 be taken as a threat system?
Let us not forget the relatively primitive nature of the design, here. It is a liquid fueled design which appears to be a prototype, and one of limited capabilities at that. My initial assessment is that it is comparable in many respects to ballistic missiles deployed at the beginning of the Cold War- probably unreliable, certainly innacurate, and definitely difficult to maintain at "launch readiness" for protracted periods.
Time to generate a sortie? Days, if not weeks, judging the data I've seen. Even if the system were deployed operationally, which would be quite a feat considering the state of North Korean industry, it would not be deployed in large numbers, would be vulnerable to air and cruise missile attack, and would still suffer from the slow reaction time inherent to liquid-fueled ICBMs.
If the NKs want to level a city, I suggest they would be better off using sapper teams than this Khruschevesque relic.
What are they trying to accomplish here, beyond feeding Kim's ego? To what extent should we take this threat seriously? |
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