North Korea can get a reliable Intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a nuclear warhead, and strike in the next year. Such conclusion contains in the report of the office of military intelligence (Defence Intelligence Agency — DIA), reports the South China Morning Post.
According to American analysts, the recent tests conducted by North Korea indicate that Pyongyang, most likely, received a key technology required to launch missiles towards targets, located at a distance of thousands of kilometers.
As experts believe, one of the few remaining technical hurdles was the problem of “atmospheric entry” — creation of system of protection of warheads against damage when entering the dense layers of the atmosphere. However, this problem can be solved by North Korean engineers in the very near future.
According to the U.S. experts, North Korea will be able to proceed from experimental to mass production of this class of missiles in 2018.
On 25 July it was reported that North Korea can produce another missile launch in the coming days, U.S. intelligence discovered the North-West of the DPRK transporting the equipment to launch ballistic missiles of the vehicle. Probable date of launch 27 July, the day in the DPRK celebrate the national holiday in honor of the end of the Korean war.
On 4 July, the North Korean authorities reported the successful launch of a new Intercontinental ballistic missile “And 14”. Under the statement of Pyongyang, she flew 933 kilometers and reached a height of 2802 km. After 39 minutes after launch, it just hit the target.
On the same day, Russia and China issued a joint initiative of proposing to the DPRK to declare a moratorium on nuclear tests and missile launches, and South Korea and the United States to refrain from conducting large-scale military exercises in the region.