File photo of Hyunmoo 2A test firing South Korea has successfully test fired longest range variant of its Hyunmoo series tactical ball...
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| File photo of Hyunmoo 2A test firing |
South Korea has successfully test fired longest range variant of its Hyunmoo series tactical ballistic missiles on Friday, amid increased provocations from North Korea.
The 800 km extended range variant dubbed Hyunmoo 2C have enough range to strike any targets inside North Korea, addressing country's critical deterrence capability gap.
The missile was launched from a Transporter Erector Launcher (TEL) truck onboard a ship and hit a predesignated point in the sea.
Defense Ministry did not reveal how far the missile flew. This was the fourth test firing of the missile which is planned to become operational by year end, after two more test firings.
In 2012, US and South Korea agreed to let latter posses ballistic missiles with a range of upto 800 km and a 500 kg warhead. Until then, South Korea was barred from possessing missiles with more than 300 km strike range to prevent an regional arm race.
South Korea currently operates the 300 km range Hyunmoo 2A and 500 km range Hyunmoo 2C ballistic missiles. The Hyunmoo 2 series closely resemble the Russian Iskander short range ballistic missile in performance and design.
The Hyunmoo 1 developed with US assistance, based on the MIM-14 Nike Hercules missile had a range of 180 km and has been phased out.
South Korea has also developed a cruise missile family dubbed Hyunmoo-3 resembling U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile, the 3C variant of which have been test fired for a 1,500 km range.
