North Korea announces Hwasong-16B missile upgrade: What’s changed?

Defense Express reports that North Korea also claimed the missile reached an altitude of 99.8 km, after which the glider detached and made a controlled flight at an altitude of up to 42.5 km. The missile's declared speed was Mach 12 (4 km/s). While the missile itself has not been named, it is believed to be the Hwasong-16B.

The Hwasong-16B was first publicly launched on April 2, 2024, covering a distance of 1,000 km, with the hypersonic unit performing jumps of 101 km and 72 km.

According to Defense Express, available launch images suggest that the missile and hypersonic glider have not undergone significant external design changes.

At the same time, Pyongyang stated that a new composite material, "reinforced with carbon fibers," was used to manufacture this version of the missile's solid fuel engine body. The flight and guidance control system was also upgraded with a "new comprehensive and efficient tool based on already proven technologies."

Defense Express notes that it's clear where the technology for manufacturing the missile cases comes from, as the Hwasong-16B has a solid-fuel engine similar to the Hwasong-19, which is essentially the same as the Russian Yars (RS-24) or Topol-M.

Defense Express also suggests that the hypersonic unit, a key feature of the Hwasong-16B, may have been obtained by North Korea from either the Russian Yu-71 Avangard system for the UR-100N UTTX missile or the Chinese DF-ZF system for the DF-17 missile.

• The Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise (KSIFE) examined fragments of several North Korean KN-23 missiles used by Russia in strikes against Ukraine.