Latest Missile Launched by N.Korea may be an ICBM

By John W. Spring

A new missile was launched in North Korea on Friday at 6:57 am on September 15, 2017, which was in the United States on Thursday at 5:57 pm ET or 2:57 pm PT on September 14, 2017 due to being located on different sides of the International Dateline or IDL. It was the second missile to fly eastward over Japan and plunge into the North Pacific Ocean about 1,370 miles east from Hokkaido. Because it had travelled further than the earlier intermediate-range ballistic missile or IRBM for a distance of 3,700 kilometers or 2,300 miles, which is a radius that exceeds the range for reaching Guam, Washington is very concerned about this latest test by Pyongyang. However, due to the Coriolis Effect caused by the Earth’s rotation, on a longitudinal course equatorward to Guam from North Korea, an IRBM’s guidance system would need to be able to compensate for this force if it intends to accurately reach a specific target. So this is another factor that must be considered by Pyongyang’s rocket scientists before attempting such a launch headed for Guam.

While the ballistic missile that was launched by North Korea had been presumed to be the same type of Hwasong-12 IRBM, it could have been an ICBM that was actually being tested. Because it had reached an altitude of 770 kilometers or 478 miles while covering a surficial distance or a range of 3,700 kilometers or 2,300 miles on September 15, 2017, compared with the last IRBM test on August 29, 2017, which had reached only an altitude of 550 kilometers or 342 miles as it covered a surficial distance or a range of only 2,700 kilometers or 1,678 miles, strongly suggests that the most recent missile launched by North Korea was a new intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM.

By comparing the data for the two missile launches from North Korea on August 29, 2017 and on September 15, 2017, it becomes rather clear that the most recent launch was probably not an IRBM, but, rather, an ICBM with potentially a much greater range that, besides being able to reach Guam, could also reach the mainland of the United States. JWS