Advanced Weapons Unveiled on Armed Forces Day [Yang Nakgyu's Defence Club]

Hyunmoo and Strategic Bomber B-1B Showcase Power
Multi-legged Walking Robot for Counterterrorism Operations Debuts

Our military unveiled its latest weapons in celebration of the 76th anniversary of the founding of the armed forces and Armed Forces Day. This year’s event featured the ground-to-ground missile “Hyunmoo-5,” regarded as the “world’s strongest bunker buster,” and the U.S. Air Force’s strategic bomber B-1B “Lancer,” showcasing the overwhelming combined power of South Korea and the United States.

Advanced Weapons Unveiled on Armed Forces Day [Yang Nakgyu's Defence Club]

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Armed Forces Day ceremony was held at 10 a.m. on the 1st at Seoul Airport in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, under the theme “Strong Armed Forces, Together with the People.”

The most eye-catching strategic weapon at the event was the Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile, nicknamed the “monster missile.” The Hyunmoo-5 can carry the heaviest warhead in the world (8 to 9 tons) and is considered a strategic weapon capable of responding to North Korean provocations. Development of the Hyunmoo-5 was completed after test launches starting last year, and mass production has already begun. Hanwha Aerospace’s Boeun factory has been producing up to 70 units annually since last year.

Deployed since last year, the Hyunmoo-5 is a representative means of the Korean-style “3-axis” system’s Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR). It is a high-weight missile designed to deliver destruction comparable to nuclear weapons in a non-nuclear situation, capable of destroying targets such as tunnels or bunkers deeper than 100 meters underground.

Hyunmoo-5 Applies Cold Launch Method

According to Yoo Yong-won, a member of the National Assembly’s Defense Committee from the People Power Party, although the Hyunmoo-5 is a short-range ballistic missile, if the warhead weight is reduced, it is estimated to perform at the level of an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM, range 3,000 to 5,500 km) or higher. Based on the typical warhead weight of 1 ton for ballistic missiles, the Hyunmoo-5’s range could exceed 5,000 km. Warhead weight and range are inversely proportional. The Hyunmoo-5 is housed inside a cylindrical launch tube estimated to be about 20 meters long. The vehicle carrying the launch tube has nine axles, and to ensure the safety of the launch vehicle, a “cold launch” method is applied, where ignition occurs in the air after launch.

In addition to the Hyunmoo-5, the event showcased other core forces of the military’s 3-axis system. The long-range surface-to-air guided missile (L-SAM), first publicly revealed at last year’s Armed Forces Day, appeared again this year. The L-SAM is a missile that intercepts enemy ballistic missiles at altitudes above 40 km and is considered a key asset of the Korea Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) system. The stealth fighter F-35A, one of the key forces of the Kill Chain, also flew over Seoul Airport during the Armed Forces Day ceremony.

Advanced U.S.-ROK Weapons Displayed with Strategic Bomber Deployment

The U.S. Air Force’s strategic bomber B-1B Lancer, nicknamed the “Death’s Swan,” made its first appearance at the Armed Forces Day ceremony. The B-1B, capable of flying at a maximum speed of Mach 1.25 and a maximum range of 12,000 km, can reach the Korean Peninsula from the Guam U.S. military base in two hours. Although it cannot operate nuclear weapons, it can carry up to 57 tons of armaments, boasting a far greater payload than other U.S. strategic bombers such as the B-2 (22 tons) or B-52 (31 tons).

The Navy’s P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, which arrived in the country and was commissioned in June, also demonstrated its presence over Seoul Airport. The P-8A, converted from the civilian Boeing 737 into a maritime patrol aircraft, flies at speeds exceeding 900 km/h and can detect and attack enemy submarines, earning it the nickname “submarine killer.”

A quadruped multi-legged robot for counter-terrorism operations also appeared, showcasing agile movement. This robot can move at speeds over 4 km/h and climb vertical obstacles such as stairs up to 20 cm high. In the event of a terrorist attack, it is deployed to the scene instead of soldiers to assess threats. Currently, the military is conducting performance verification by trial deploying the robot to the Army Special Warfare Command and one frontline division.