Sohae Missile and Space Launch Facility
Pongdong-Ni / Tongchang-Ni / Tongch'ang-dong
By Tim Brown
Senior Fellow
Globalsecurity.org
Static Rocket Engine Test Stand
The Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in the western part of the country is a major center that had been used for testing engines for long-distance missiles. Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met 12 June 2018 in Singapore. Trump told reporters after the two met that Kim had agreed to destroy one of his missile centers. At the time, however, the president did not name the site. A US official told the Reuters news agency, “Chairman Kim promised that North Korea would destroy a missile engine test stand soon.”
Little is known about the Sohae site, located in Tongchang-ri. What is know has been pieced together from experts’ reports and the North Korean state news agency KCNA. It was reportedly established 2008 with research centers nearby for missile development. It also reportedly has a structure that can support ballistic missiles. The site is mainly used to test large engines built for long-distance missiles.
A static rocket engine test stand is located about one kilometer southeast of the launch pad. There is concrete support pad that measures 40 by 60 meters. A concrete ramp connects the support pad to the engine test pad. The steel superstructure that holds the rocket motor captive measures about 10 by 10 meters.
Four concrete piers support the engine test pad. A concrete blast deflector is located below the test stand and is probably protected from the heat and vibration of the engine exhaust by heavy flow of water. There is probably a semi-buried fuel building measuring 10 by 15 meters. There is a buried conduit running 190 meters that probably provides water to dampen and cool the blast deflector.
South Korean media reported in September 2008 indications North Korea may have tested engines for some of its largest and longest-range missiles earlier in the year. Joseph Bermudez is a senior analyst with the Jane's group of defense and intelligence publications. He said the test would be consistent with North Korea's decades-old missile development program. "North Korea has routinely conducted ballistic missile engine, space launch vehicle engine, testing for the past 10-15 years. It would not be unusual that they would do that now," he said.
The tests were suspected to have taken place at a facility Bermudez took the lead in making public. A report published by Jane's Defence Weekly features satellite photographs of a 10-story missile tower and launch pad, located in a Southwestern region of North Korea. Bermudez said North Korea probably began building it about eight years earlier.
Bermudez says North Korea has usually tested missile engines by separating them from the body of the missile that would carry it. He says the new facility may make future tests more realistic. "This facility appears that it could actually test the engine while it's in the airframe. What this does, it gives you an additional capability to test how your subsystems will react to the vibrations and possibly heat of the engine," explained Bermudez.
Comparison to the Iranian Test Stand at Shahid Hemit Industrial Complex
The static rocket motor test stand at the Tongch’ang-dong site is similar to one observed at the Shahid Hemmat facility east of Tehran, Iran. Given North Korean and Iranian collaboration in developing long rang ballistic missiles, the two facilities are probably based on similar design concepts.
Comparison of the static engine test stand at Tongch'ang-dong and the Iranian missile R&D complex at Shahid Hemit outside of Tehran.
Credit: Globalsecurity.org and DigitalGlobe.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
