Military Makes Error During NLL Counterfire; Guided Missile 'Self-Destructs' During Training

Missile Debris Causes Signal Loss, Airburst, Device Errors
"Posture Capable of Precision Strikes on Enemy" Self-Assessment Shows Discrepancy

An Air Force F-15K fighter jet is launching a SLAM-ER long-range air-to-ground missile north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) over the East Sea on the 2nd.
[Photo by Joint Chiefs of Staff]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hee-jun] As North Korea continues to escalate its provocations day by day, our military’s readiness has repeatedly revealed vulnerabilities. Following missile misfire accidents, there have been various issues such as signal loss, mid-air explosions, and device malfunctions. Problems have even arisen during the weapon mounting process, leading to evaluations describing the situation as a 'total crisis.'

According to military authorities on the 4th, an error occurred during the process of our military firing air-to-ground missiles north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in response to a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) launched by North Korea across the NLL over the East Sea on the 2nd.

At that time, the military announced that a total of three missiles were fired: one Spice 2000 guided bomb from a KF-16 fighter jet and two Slam-ER long-range air-to-ground missiles from an F-15K fighter jet. However, the response did not proceed as planned. In the case of the Spice 2000, two bombs were originally planned to be fired, but after the first successful launch, an error occurred during the target setting process for the second bomb, preventing its launch.

Furthermore, the original plan was to fire two Slam-ER missiles from one F-15K, but one missile could not be launched, so a following backup aircraft had to fire one missile. The military estimates that the missile that failed to launch had a problem during the mounting process.

Although there were no incidents of the launched weapons flying backward or exploding or disappearing mid-air, there was a gap between the military’s self-assessment after the counterattack that it "demonstrated the capability and readiness to precisely strike the enemy" and the actual situation.

The problems do not end there. On the 2nd, at the Daecheon shooting range in Boryeong City, Chungnam Province, during the '2022 Guided Missile Shooting Competition' hosted by the Air Force, one domestically produced medium-range guided missile, Cheongung, self-destructed mid-flight. Cheongung burned fuel for about 10 seconds after launch, flew approximately 25 km over the sea, and then exploded.

A military official explained, "Cheongung was found to be abnormal before launch, so it was replaced with a backup missile and fired, but after flight, due to signal failure between the radar and the missile, it was self-destructed." Cheongung is designed to explode mid-air after a certain time if communication is unstable.

In the same competition, a Patriot (PAC-2) interceptor missile was prevented from launching due to an error detected just before firing. The first Patriot missile was launched normally, but during the second launch, a fault appeared on the radar monitoring the fire control radar, and considering that it was during a competition and not an actual situation, the military canceled the launch.

Although these errors occurred during a competition, weapons that must fly precisely toward the enemy at any time and under any circumstances failed to perform their functions.

Earlier, on the 4th of last month, a more serious accident occurred in the Army. In response to a medium-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launched by North Korea, our military fired a Hyunmoo-2C ballistic missile, which flew abnormally immediately after launch and fell inside a military base in the opposite direction of the planned course.

The missile fell near the base’s golf course, and although rain prevented a fire from spreading, if it had fallen on civilian houses or barracks, a major casualty incident could have been feared. The following early morning, one of two ATACMS tactical surface-to-surface missiles fired by the military as a counterattack lost tracking signal during flight.