Did the DPRK just launch a Hwasong-12?
Spoiler alert: I don't yet know. Yesterday the DPRK launched a ballistic missile on a lofted trajectory with an apogee of 2000 km and a range of 800 km, with a flight time of 30 minutes and a maximum speed equivalent to Ma=16. I have yet to see pictures that will allow me to identify the type, but I do know that trajectory data is awfully close to the May-2017 launch of a Hwasong-12. That flew to an apogee of 2110 km and a range of 787 km. The graphs are results of a computer simulation I did of that flight. The maximum velocity of about 5.5 km/s indeed corresponds to Ma=16.
So, what does it mean? In September of 2017, the DPRK launched another Hwasong-12 on a trajectory over Japan, close to a minimum-energy trajectory. That covered 3700 km and reached an altitude of 770 km. That performance would be sufficient for it to reach Guam, if launched towards the South.
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3 年Great analysis Ralph. Al Jazeera reported the confirmation: https://aje.io/ar86y6