SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea fired a “hypersonic missile” that successfully hit a target, state news agency KCNA reported on Thursday.
North Korea first tested a hypersonic missile in September, joining a race headed by major military powers to deploy the advanced weapons system.
Hypersonic weapons usually fly towards targets at lower altitudes than ballistic missiles and can achieve more than five times the speed of sound - or about 6,200 kms per hour (3,850 mph).
Despite their name, analysts say the main feature of hypersonic weapons is not speed - which can sometimes be matched or exceeded by traditional ballistic missile warheads - but their manoeuvrability.
The “hypersonic gliding warhead” detached from its rocket booster and manoeuvred 120 kms (75 miles) laterally before it “precisely hit” a target 700 kms (430 miles) away, KCNA reported.
The missile demonstrated its ability to combine “multi-step glide jump flight and strong lateral manoeuvring”, KCNA said.
The test also confirmed components such as flight control and its ability to operate in the winter, KCNA added.
“The successive successes in the test launches in the hypersonic missile sector have strategic significance in that they hasten a task for modernizing strategic armed force of the state,” the KCNA report said.
Hypersonic weapons are considered the next generation of arms that aim to rob adversaries of reaction time and traditional defeat mechanisms.