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US cyber attacks may be bringing North Korean missiles down

F-22Raptor

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Experts are suggesting the in-flight failure and crash of the missile launched by North Korea on Wednesday could have been the result of a "left-of-launch" attack by the United States.

Wednesday's missile has been identified as a liquid fuel, extended-range Scud and was launched shortly after dawn from near the city of Sinpo, on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. US Pacific Command estimates that the weapon flew for a maximum of nine minutes and travelled less than 40 miles before spinning out of control into the Sea of Japan.

North Korea's missile programme has a high rate of failure with another medium-range weapon failing during flight earlier in March. In early 2016, a Musudan missile fired to mark the anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the founder of the nation, blew up immediately after launch and damaged its mobile tractor-erector-launcher unit.

In November 2015, the North's attempt to launch a ballistic missile from a submarine ended in failure, with the weapon breaking up underwater and failing to breach the surface.

And while these failures - and others - may have been the result of poor engineering on the part of the North Koreans, they may also have been deliberately brought down by the US, experts have told The Telegraph.

In 2014, then-President Barack Obama authorised additional research into "left-of-launch" efforts to neutralise North Korean missiles, as opposed to the more traditional deployment of anti-missile systems to destroy inbound weapons.

"Left-of-launch" strategies involve electromagnetic propagation or cyber attacks against missiles immediately after launch, including through infected electronics aboard the weapon that confuse its command and control or targeting systems.

North Korea relies on sophisticated electronics for the internal controls of its weapons - all of which have to be imported, in violation of international sanctions.


Part of the beauty of a "left-of-launch" attack, said Lance Gatling, a defence analyst and president of Tokyo-based Nexial Research Inc, is that the North Koreans cannot be sure that any imported electronics have not been deliberately permitted to evade sanctions because they are infected with malware. Similarly, when a launch fails they are also unable to determine what brought the missile down.

"There are many things that can go wrong with a missile launch, but it would be impossible to tell from outside if something had affected the internal guidance or control systems", Mr Gatling told The Telegraph.

Mr Gatling referred to reports in the press of "left-of-launch" attacks targeting the North: "It has been openly mentioned that there is a possibility that the North's supply chain for components has been deliberately infected, and they might never know."

"It is quite possible that parts that they are importing are intentionally faulty because, through history, there have been similar attempts to sabotage an enemy's capabilities," he said, citing Allied efforts during the Second World War to infiltrate agents into Nazi Germany's programme to develop V2 rockets.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...h-attacks-may-bringing-north-korean-missiles/
 
Sure enough the infected hardware is causing setbacks for the North Koreans, but sooner or later they will find a way around it.
A determined enemy must never be taken lightly. If a poor, impoverished country like North Korea can survive on sanctions for so long and challenge the world's superpower, you can bet that it will find a way around any technical sabotage.
The North Koreans will eventually achieve self sufficiency in producing hardware for their missiles, or they will become adept at finding the faults in the missiles' systems.
 
Wednesday's missile has been identified as a liquid fuel, extended-range Scud and was launched shortly after dawn from near the city of Sinpo, on the east coast of the Korean Peninsula. US Pacific Command estimates that the weapon flew for a maximum of nine minutes and travelled less than 40 miles before spinning out of control into the Sea of Japan.

US is not even sure what kind of missile was tested and regarding the data on the test they shared sharing what i read yesterday



South Korean sources reported the missile flew only about 60 km before splashing down, and reached a maximum altitude of 189 km. And based on Pacific Command’s statement, the flight time was eight to nine minutes.
........
If the missile did not tumble during reentry, I calculate the flight time would be about 7.5 minutes. However, taking account of the additional atmospheric drag due to the tumbling body can increase the flight to about 9 minutes.
trajectories-768x529.jpg

The fact that the missile flew on a nearly vertical trajectory suggests there may have been a problem with the guidance system. If the missile was liquid fueled, North Korea may have shut down the engine when it realized there was a problem. A solid fueled engine could not be shut down in the same way.

http://allthingsnuclear.org/dwright/nk-5-april-2017-missile-launch

@The Deterrent any comment on the range and on this "shutting down liquid fueled engine if there is a problem" thing mentioned in the article
 
Those evil on board electronic stuff can bring down a fighter jet or air liner if it gets activated
 
Somehow, I am very sceptical of this. While US popular culture tends to portray North Koreans as bumbling morons, in reality, if the North Korean engineers can build a functional nuclear bomb and missiles, chances are they are way smarter than the average North American by a long margin.

The concept of eletromagnetic attacks against military targets is viable in real life, but they generally refer to "dump so much electromagnetic interference in the area that the guidance system gets confused". It also leave enough EM radiation that you can detect it from the next country.

The assumption of "North Koreans cannot be sure that any imported electronics have not been deliberately permitted to evade sanctions because they are infected with malware" is rather absurd. How exactly are you supposed to hide malware on a IGBT or any kind of transistor? Or are they implying that North Korean can't program a PID controller and thus has to get one from them?
 
The fact that the missile flew on a nearly vertical trajectory suggests there may have been a problem with the guidance system. If the missile was liquid fueled, North Korea may have shut down the engine when it realized there was a problem. A solid fueled engine could not be shut down in the same way.

http://allthingsnuclear.org/dwright/nk-5-april-2017-missile-launch

@The Deterrent any comment on the range and on this "shutting down liquid fueled engine if there is a problem" thing mentioned in the article
The liquid fueled engines are throttled, however it doesn't means that it can be done at any time during the flight. Complex systems like missiles and SLVs have pre-programmed launch sequences, and so real-time throttling can not practically be done. All that can be done is monitoring (via telemetry) or self-destruction.

OT, I don't think US is responsible for whats happening to NK's test flights. Their engineers are messing up, thats all. Any kind of 'malware infection' is out of the question, these systems do not utilize that complex processors. Also, for any kind of EMP to be effective, the delivery system would have to be dangerously close to the test site, which they can easily detect.
 
Somehow, I am very sceptical of this. While US popular culture tends to portray North Koreans as bumbling morons, in reality, if the North Korean engineers can build a functional nuclear bomb and missiles, chances are they are way smarter than the average North American by a long margin.

I don't know why you would think US culture portrays North Koreans as bumbling morons.
Koreans are very well respected. Nobody thinks all the smart ones live in just South Korea.

If anything North Koreans are portrayed as being very determined people.
 
I don't know why you would think US culture portrays North Koreans as bumbling morons.
Koreans are very well respected. Nobody thinks all the smart ones live in just South Korea.

If anything North Koreans are portrayed as being very determined people.

North Koreans are especially seen as those who don't keep their promises when a deal was struck.
 
America, the world's biggest terrorists。
America asked Iraq, do you have weapons of mass destruction?
Iraq said "NO"--then, the war in Iraq, Saddam died."
America asked Libya, do you have weapons of mass destruction?
Libya said "NO"--then, the war in Libya, Gaddafi died.
America asked North Korea, do you have weapons of mass destruction?
NK said "Yes"--then, America said,"Er ok ~~, I just ask"
Jeong eun Kim laughed, "interesting"
 
What an article by 'expert'. NK several time launch their missile and some fail, their didn't say anything and keep scheduling another launch.
 
Sure enough the infected hardware is causing setbacks for the North Koreans, but sooner or later they will find a way around it.
A determined enemy must never be taken lightly. If a poor, impoverished country like North Korea can survive on sanctions for so long and challenge the world's superpower, you can bet that it will find a way around any technical sabotage.
The North Koreans will eventually achieve self sufficiency in producing hardware for their missiles, or they will become adept at finding the faults in the missiles' systems.

Agreed, but not without a silent support of another super power. The main public secret behind their survival. :p:
 
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