RELIABILITY: Mixed
South Korea’s Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile, the country’s largest to date, has now been operationally deployed, according to local reports. Overall, the missile remains mysterious, with no publicly confirmed test launches, although its size — closer to an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) — and its absolutely colossal penetrating warhead put it in a class of its own. It would likely play a key role in any kind of large-scale conflict with North Korea and, as such, is the latest in a line of bespoke weapons intended to counter growing threats from Pyongyang.
The weight penalty of its huge warhead makes the Hyunmoo-5 a short-range ballistic missile. In terms of applications, it has some parallels with the air-launched GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). While the Hyunmoo-5 w
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