Recent commercial satellite imagery provides additional details on North Korea’s new submarine and test stand at the Sinpo South Shipyard (Pongdae Boiler Plant) located on its east coast. New imagery now indicates that the conning tower houses 1-2 small possible vertical launch tubes for either ballistic or cruise missiles. The boat could serve as an experimental test bed for missile technology, which if successful, could be integrated into a new class of submarines.
In the old imagery in July 2014, the center section of the conning tower, which is approximately 10 meters long and 2.75 meters wide, was partially obscured by a large blue tarp. Imagery from December 18, 2014, indicates that the tarp is no longer present and reveals a rectangular opening approximately 4.25 meters long and 2.25 meters wide. While the current image is of insufficient resolution and quality to look down into the opening, its presence on the top of a large conning tower is unusual and suggests that a panel has been removed to access the interior. Taken in concert with a September South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff statement that “…the possibility of a North Korean submarine equipped with an SLBM has been detected recently…,” the new imagery suggests the possibility of 1-2 small vertical missile launch tubes.
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