North Korea's air force displays new capabilities
The KPAF displayed its Saetbyol-9 multirole UAV and Saetbyol-4 reconnaissance UAV at a ceremony in late November marking the service's 80th anniversary. (Janes)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has announced that the Korean People's Air Force (KPAF) will be reinforced with “new strategic military assets”, at a ceremony marking the service's 80th anniversary, state-owned Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on 30 November.
Images released by KCNA show Kim inspecting the KPAF's display of some of its latest unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), fighter aircraft equipped with what appears to be new missiles, a recently unveiled airborne warning and control system (AWACS) platform, and mobile missile launchers.
The KPAF displayed two armed Saetbyol-9 (Morning Star-9) multirole UAVs and a Saetbyol-4 (Morning Star-4) reconnaissance UAV.
Saetbyol-9 resembles the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Reaper. One of the Saetbyol-9 appeared to be less advanced than the other as its wings were broader compared with the other, indicating that it may have lesser speed. The broader winged Saetbyol-9 also had only a ventral communication antenna, while the other Saetbyol-9 UAV had ventral and dorsal antennas.
Each Saetbyol-9 was equipped with eight of a North Korean version of the AGM-114 Hellfire missile and two glide munitions. Janes assesses that the glide munition is in the 50–100 kg class.
The Saetbyol-4 UAV had the serial number 21070602, which is different from the serial numbers previously seen on the Saetbyol-4 UAV.
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