World’s Longest Range Rocket Artillery System Demonstrates AI-Powered Deep Strike Capabilities in North Korean Live Fire Drill

The Korean People’s Army has conducted a firepower strike drill involving its unique KN-25 600 millimetre rocket artillery system, which saw twelve rockets described as having “ultra-precision” capabilities fired. "A long-range artillery sub-unit of the Korean People's Army in the western area conducted a firepower strike drill" on March 14 involving "600mm calibre ultra-precision multiple rocket launchers and two artillery companies," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The exercise had been reported by the South Korean Defence Ministry hours earlier as a launch of approximately 10 ballistic missiles, with were reported launched from Sunan, near Pyongyang, into the Sea of Japan, flying approximately 350 kilometres. While demonstrating the capabilities of new variants of the KN-25 system, the exercises, have also been assessed to be a response to ongoing U.S.-South Korean military exercises.

Commenting on and supervising the rocket artillery launch, Chairman of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party Kim Jong-un observed that KN-25 systems will "immediately be used for their second mission as a means of massive, destructive strike" in case deterrents fail to prevent foreign forces from launching an armed provocations against North Korea. The exercises have occurred at a particularly sensitive time as the United States has withdrawn its MIM-104 Patriot and THAAD ballistic missile defence systems from South Korea, leaving U.S. military facilities in the country unprecedentedly exposed. The test occurred less than a month after a new large batch of KN-25 systems including 50 launchers was delivered to the Korean People’s Army in late February. Each of the eight wheeled mobile launch vehicles accommodates five rockets. 

Commenting on the KN-25’s capabilities at the time of deliveries in February, Chairman Kim stated that the system “perfectly combines the accuracy and destructive power of tactical ballistic missiles with the firing speed of multiple rocket launchers.” “It uses AI technology and a combined guidance system,” he observed, noting that the system was designed to be able to launch strategic level attacks. The KN-25 is considered by a significant body of analysts to be the world’s longest ranged rocket artillery system, and although the Chinese PCL-191 can engage targets up to 500 kilometres away, it does so using ballistic missiles rather than rockets, with its maximum reported rocket engagement range being 350 kilometres using 370mm rockets. The KN-25, by contrast, has a reported 400 kilometre range. 

Months after the KN-25’s introduction into service in 2019, a U.S. Congressional Research Service report highlighted that it “blurs the line between rocket and missile,” and boasted “advanced avionics, inertial and satellite guidance systems, and aerodynamic structures.” The system has highly complementary capabilities to the Korean People’s Army’s short range ballistic missile systems such as the KN-23 and KN-24, which also began flight testing that year. The KN-25 system was previously employed in live fire exercises on January 27, after reportedly having benefitted from significant upgrades. A number of unconfirmed reports have indicated that the KN-25 has been exported to Russia for use in the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian War, with tens of billion of dollars in funding for the North Korean defence sector from arms exports to Russia widely assessed to have been a major facilitator of the considerable expansion of production of key systems like the KN-25.