North Korea Tested Another ‘Hypersonic’ Missile, Says State Media
Colin Zwirko | NK News
North Korea says it tested a new “hypersonic missile” on Wednesday and that a new fuel transport system proved successful in freezing winter temperatures. The missile successfully traveled 435 miles (700 km) to hit its target, making a 75 mile (120 km) lateral maneuver along the way, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Thursday morning. KCNA said that the test was overseen by the Academy of Defense Science, without mentioning the presence of DPRK leader Kim Jong Un or any individual military general. Ankit Panda, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s Nuclear Policy Program, told NK News the missile appears to be a new liquid-fueled maneuverable reentry vehicle (MARV) ballistic missile that was first shown off at a defense exhibition last October.
U.S. Sees “Snapback” Sanctions Threat as Tool to Deter Iran Enrichment
Barak Ravid | Axios
National security adviser Jake Sullivan told Israeli officials during his recent visit to Jerusalem that the threat of “snapback” UN Security Council sanctions should be used as a means to deter Iran from enriching weapons-grade uranium, three Israeli officials with direct knowledge of the issue told me. Why it matters: Snapback was the most significant mechanism built into the 2015 deal to punish Iran if it violates the agreement. According to the deal, any party to the agreement can trigger the sanctions.
Uranium Jumps as Unrest Hits World’s Top Supplier Kazakhstan
Yvonne Yue Li and Stephen Stapczynski | Bloomberg
Uranium prices jumped as Kazakhstan, the world’s largest producer of the radioactive metal, struggles to cope with deadly protests that pose the biggest challenge to the country’s leadership in decades. The Central Asian nation, a part of the former Soviet Union that produces more than 40% of the world’s uranium, has disrupted communications networks and restricted some travel in a bid to quell the unrest. The Kremlin said Russia and its allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization will send “peacekeeping forces” after Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev appealed for assistance.
China Says It Will Continue to Develop Nuclear Arsenal and US and Russia Must Make First Cuts
Kinling Lo | South China Morning Post
China’s senior arms control official has said the country will continue to upgrade its nuclear arsenal and urged the United States and Russia to take the first steps to reduce their larger stockpiles in the wake of a pledge by five leading nuclear powers to only use the weapons for defensive purposes. “China will continue to modernise its nuclear arsenal for reliability and safety issues,” Fu Cong, director general of the department of arms control at the Chinese foreign ministry, said on Tuesday.
Japan Set to Develop Railguns to Counter Hypersonic Missiles
Nikkei Asia
The Japanese Defense Ministry will develop a means to intercept hostile missiles using magnetically powered projectiles, sources told Nikkei Asia, as the nation scurries to respond to the hypersonic weapons being developed by China, North Korea and Russia. The ministry is focusing on railgun technology that can launch projectiles with power generated when an electric current is applied to a magnetic field. The projectiles are faster than those shot from conventional intercept systems and can be fired continuously.
Why Do US Hypersonic Missile Tests Keep Failing? They’re Going Too Fast
Joshua Pollack | Defense One
A new arms technology is coming into its own, and the U.S. Defense Department is determined to achieve quick results in the field. Rather than select one or two concepts and usher them through the deliberate, highly structured process of research, development, testing, and evaluation, the Pentagon’s program managers opt for multiple, competing efforts, and place them on a streamlined course: rapid prototyping and testing, to be followed by rapid production and deployment. The major defense contractors set forth as confidently as prospectors during the gold rush. The trouble is, the new weapons keep failing in tests, sometimes in fairly rudimentary ways that don’t lend themselves to evaluating and improving the design. The truncated development strategy seems to require a faith that American aerospace engineering can overwhelm all the usual difficulties by force of sheer élan. The results turn out differently.