South Korea is Developing Its Own Analog of the “Kinzhal”

South Korea is developing an air-launched hypersonic ballistic missile that will be installed on the KF-21 fighter jet.

Japanese military analyst Yonghak said that the project will be based on KTSSM missiles.

The concept is similar to the Israeli Air LORA and ROCKS, as well as the American Mako.

It is planned that the main carriers of the new missile will be Korean KF-21 fighters. As with most other air-launched missiles, the main goal is to break through enemy air defenses and hit key targets.

“According to available data, it is planned to purchase more than 100 missiles. However, the exact schedule is still unknown,” the analyst said.

The missile is expected to have a speed of 5-10 Mach and a range of 400 to 1000 km.

“The development of the air-launched KTSSM-I missile has been completed, but the main missile will probably be an improved version of the KTSSM-II Block-II,” the expert said.

KTSSM (Korean Tactical Surface-to-Surface Missile), or “Ure”, is a tactical surface-to-surface ballistic missile developed by South Korea for the rapid destruction of artillery positions, missile systems and fortified facilities in North Korea.

In addition, this system is the technological basis for potential strategic autonomy, as it has similarities with nuclear warhead carriers, although it is currently designed exclusively for conventional warheads.

South Korea has allocated about $200-218 million (approximately KRW 290 billion) for the development of a modernized version of the KTSSM-II.

Last year, it became known that South Korea was starting to produce serial KF-21 fighters. Then Hanwha Aerospace signed a contract to supply 40 engines for KF-21 fighters.

This fighter was created within the framework of the South Korean program for the development of modern tactical aircraft (KF-X) in the interests of the air forces of South Korea and Indonesia.

During the development, modern short-range air-to-air missiles IRIS-T and AIM-9X, medium-range AIM-120 AMRAAM, and long-range Meteor were integrated into its combat system.