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At a sensitive moment, Korea flexed its muscles and launched a ground-penetrating missile again after seven years

The Paper Contributing Writer Lin Sen

For the first time in seven years, the Korea military has launched a German-made "Taurus" air-to-ground cruise missile with ground-penetrating capabilities.

In October, the situation on the Korean Peninsula continued to escalate, with ruthless words, road bombings, exercises, demonstrations and shooting...... The two sides have not shown weakness to each other, which has raised tensions and aroused great concern in the international community, and whether war will break out has also become a hot topic. At this sensitive moment, Korea recently used a highly targeted "Taurus" missile in the exercise - according to reference news on the 15th, citing Yonhap News Agency, Korea officials said on the 11th that the Korea Air Force conducted a live-fire exercise of the "Taurus" long-range air-to-surface missile, which is the first time in seven years that Korea has held such an exercise, demonstrating the missile's high hit accuracy and ground-penetrating strike capability.

At a sensitive moment, Korea flexed its muscles and launched a ground-penetrating missile again after seven years

The "Taurus" missile flying at low altitude over the sea.

The "strategic weapon" of the Korea Air Force

During the exercise, the Korea Air Force dispatched F-15K fighter jets to successfully launch the Taurus missile in the Yellow Sea, flying about 400 kilometers and accurately hitting the target. Korea media reported that the missile, with stealth technology and penetration, can accurately strike outside the enemy's air defense network, ensuring the survivability of pilots and fighters. In addition, the Air Force also simulated the response to enemy cruise missiles through the live launch of the Taurus missile, dispatched E-737 airborne early warning aircraft, F-35A and KF-16 fighters, and urgently took off to track and intercept the Taurus missile, simulating the scene of being shot down after being discovered by the air defense system (North Korea's progress in the field of cruise missiles has made Korea begin to pay attention to anti-cruise missile operations).

At a sensitive moment, Korea flexed its muscles and launched a ground-penetrating missile again after seven years

The "Taurus" missile that accurately hits the target.

The "Taurus" missile is an advanced stand-off air-to-surface missile jointly developed by Germany and Sweden, with a range of about 500 kilometers, equipped with a small turbofan engine, and a maximum flight speed of about Mach 0.9. The missile adopts a composite guidance mode of GPS/INS + terrain matching guidance + terminal infrared imaging guidance, which can be used in all weathers, has strong anti-jamming ability, and has a hit accuracy of 3 meters to 5 meters. The missile warhead weighs 490 kilograms, and different warheads can be used, such as the penetrating blasting warhead and the "Mephisto" ground-penetrating warhead.

Korea there were three main reasons for the "Taurus" missile at that time: First, United States was unwilling to sell the AGM-158 stand-off cruise missile, and was only willing to provide the F-15K fighters with a lower grade of "Slam-ER" air-to-surface missiles for the F-15K fighters that were exported Korea, and the range and warhead weight could not be compared with the "Taurus" missile; Second, the "Taurus" missile has a range of more than 480 kilometers, has a strong ability to strike outside the defense zone, can be used to strike at opponents in depth, and has the ability to fly at low altitude and plan routes, and has a strong ability to penetrate defenses. Third, the "Taurus" missile is equipped with a ground-penetrating warhead, which can penetrate 6 meters of reinforced concrete or 36 meters of soil, and can be used to strike at the opponent's reinforced or underground targets.

Korea purchased Taurus missiles in two batches, and in 2013, the Korea Defense Acquisition Program Administration ordered the first batch of 170 Taurus missiles. In 2018, Korea purchased a second batch of this missile, and signed a contract with Germany that year to purchase more than 90 Taurus missiles. The missiles are equipped with F-15K multirole fighters, the main fighter of the Korea Air Force, and Korea has introduced a total of 61 F-15K Strike Eagle heavy fighters. The F-15 fighter has a large bomb load, a long combat radius, and advanced airborne equipment, and can not only carry a variety of air-to-air missiles, but also a variety of heavy precision-guided munitions, such as GBU-28/31 ground-penetrating bombs, AGM-84 air-to-ground missiles outside the defense zone, AGM-158 cruise missiles, etc., and has strong multi-purpose combat capabilities.

At a sensitive moment, Korea flexed its muscles and launched a ground-penetrating missile again after seven years

Korea Air Force F-15K fighter jets with two Taurus missiles mounted under the wings.

The Taurus missile is the core weapon of the Korea Air Force's long-range precision strike, and in the eyes of the Korea military, this weapon is a strategically important ammunition that is not easily used in exercises, but more for deterrence. After North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test in 2017, Korea fired the missile live in a show of force in response to North Korea's nuclear test. Therefore, Korea's recent launch of this missile has also attracted the attention of the outside world, which is believed to be Korea's response to the recent situation on the peninsula, and is also a show of force and deterrence.

Korea has developed a variety of ground-penetrating bombs

Korea's intention in launching the "Taurus" missile with ground-penetrating strike capability at this time is obvious, that is, to send a signal to the opponent - I can accurately destroy your underground reinforcement targets.

Korea believes that after the end of the Cold War, major adversaries have stepped up the construction of underground military facilities, and most of the nuclear weapons, missile forces, long-range artillery, air force and strategic materials, and key arsenals have been underground, or reinforced with concrete. According to relevant information, Korea believes that after decades of construction, the adversary has built a huge "underground empire", and the wartime fighters of the three underground air bases can return to these underground bases at any time after the destruction of conventional bases; 800 bunkers were built near the border, each capable of hiding between 1,500 and 2,000 heavily armed soldiers. In addition, the adversary has built 6,000 to 8,000 underground hiding facilities across the country for important people and troop personnel to hide.

From the introduction of United States ground-penetrating bombs to the introduction of Germany "Ta Korea urus" missiles, and then to the introduction of a variety of domestically produced missiles with ground-penetrating capabilities, Korea is a little "obsessed" with ground-penetrating ammunition. Just earlier this month, Korea unveiled the "Xuanwu-5" missile, known as the "monster missile", to the outside world for the first time.

The Xuanwu-5 missile uses a 9-axis (18-wheel) mobile launch vehicle (TEL), which is equivalent in size to the intercontinental missiles of some countries. According to relevant information, the thrust of the "Xuanwu-5" missile engine is 75 tons, the weight of the missile is more than 30 tons, the maximum flight speed is 10 times the speed of sound, and when carrying an 8-ton warhead, the range is 300 km, and when the weight of the warhead is reduced to 1 ton, the range can reach 5000 km. The staggering 8-ton conventional warhead carried by this missile is not only powerful, but also relies on huge kinetic energy, and can also hit military targets tens of meters deep underground (some analysts say that the "Xuanwu-5" missile may hit targets buried 100 meters underground, because Korea believes that the opponent's underground command center can reach a maximum depth of about 100 meters). The ROK military also claimed that the purpose of using high-power warheads was to improve the missile's ability to damage and "penetrate the ground," and to effectively enhance the effectiveness of striking at the enemy's large military bases and underground military targets.

At a sensitive moment, Korea flexed its muscles and launched a ground-penetrating missile again after seven years

The Xuanwu-5 missile uses a 9-axle (18-wheeled) launch vehicle.

In addition to the "Hyunmoo-5" missile, Korea has also developed a variety of missiles with ground-penetrating strike capabilities to meet different combat scenarios. For example, the "Xuanwu-4" missile, which was developed from the "Xuanwu-2" missile, still has a range of 800 kilometers, but the weight of the warhead has increased to more than 2 tons, focusing on improving the ground-drilling capability, which is specially used to hit underground targets, and the ground-drilling capability is not as good as the "Xuanwu-5". Another example is the tactical ballistic missile KTSSM, which has an improved range of more than 120 kilometers, and the warhead can penetrate several meters of the ground before attacking underground targets, and can be launched by K239 rocket launchers to hit targets at shallow depths. In addition, the "Xuanwu-3" series of cruise missiles also has a version of a ground-penetrating warhead.

It is worth mentioning that the ground-penetrating missile race on the Korean Peninsula has quietly begun. According to China News Service, North Korea successfully test-fired the Hwasong-11C-4.5 new tactical ballistic missile that can carry a 4.5-ton warhead for the first time on July 1 this year. On September 18, the DPRK again test-fired the Hwasong-11C-4.5 tactical ballistic missile and an improved strategic cruise missile. According to the report, the new tactical ballistic missile "carries a 4.5-ton ultra-large conventional warhead." The purpose of the test launch was to verify the accuracy of a missile equipped with a super-large warhead against a medium-range target of 320 kilometers and the power of the explosion of a super-large warhead. If this missile is equipped with a ground-penetrating warhead, it can also obtain a strong ground-penetrating strike capability.

This issue is edited by Xing Tan

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