https://www.marketwatch.com/story/n...ough-russia-or-ukraine-experts-say-2017-08-14
The Wall Street Journal
North Korea may have acquired better rocket engines through Russia or Ukraine, experts say
Published: Aug 14, 2017 5:54 p.m. ET
New ICBM engines resemble Soviet ones, report finds
WASHINGTON — The rapid advance of North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile program has prompted questions about whether Kim Jong Un’s regime obtained Soviet-designed rocket engines illicitly from Ukraine or Russia.
The liquid-propellant rocket engines North Korea has been using in recent tests resemble the RD-250 and were probably acquired through illicit channels originating in Ukraine or Russia, where the complex rocket engine was designed, a report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies said Monday.
https://thediplomat.com/2017/08/nor...ines-likely-werent-made-in-russia-or-ukraine/
North Korea’s New High-Performance Missile Engines Likely Weren’t Made in Russia or Ukraine
However, U.S. intelligence has a good idea of the kind of engine North Korea is using in its new long-range missiles.
By
Ankit Panda
August 16, 2017
The first stage of North Korea’s new intercontinental-range ballistic missile (ICBM),
the Hwasong-14 (KN20), and intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM), the Hwasong-12 (KN17), both use a variant of a Soviet-origin engine.
Specifically, both missiles, based on their observed flight tests, use a single-chambered variant of the Soviet-origin RD-250 family of liquid-propellant engines with 48 tons of thrust, according to current U.S. intelligence assessments. The engines make use of high-energy, storable hypergolic liquid propellants.
U.S. government sources with knowledge of the latest intelligence on North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear programs confirmed the assessment to The Diplomat, which supports part of an open-source finding released this week by Michael Elleman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Elleman published a report outlining the RD-250-variant finding on Monday, in which he calculated a 48 ton thrust engine in both tests off publicly released imagery and video footage of North Korea’s recent launches. He additionally assessed that engines in both the new ICBM and IRBM belonged the RD-250 family.
