On Parade in Pyongyang: North Korea Debuts Rocket Launchers That Appear As Civilian Trucks | The War Zone

Disguised launchers create a deadly shell game for any opponent. Which trucks, train cars, or lakes have launchers in them? Missing even one can have costly results. From the North Korean perspective, this ties-up additional ISTAR resources from the enemy that would otherwise be used elsewhere. 

For that matter, if North Korea has invested in this technology for its paramilitary force’s rocket launchers, what’s to stop them from similarly adopting it for long-range fires like nuclear-armed cruise missiles? It will be interesting to see how North Korea and other nations develop similar these systems in the coming years as concealment and guile become more necessary than ever to fight and win on the modern, ultra-surveilled battlefield.

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North Korea Debuts Rocket Launchers That Appear As Civilian Trucks

Rocket launchers masquerading as civilian trucks are the latest sign of the times as concealment becomes more critical on the battlefield.

BYSTETSON PAYNE, TYLER ROGOWAY|PUBLISHED SEP 9, 2023 7:49 PM EDT

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North Korea’s latest weapon system puts a new spin on the age-old concept of camouflage.

In its latest parade through Pyongyang’s Kim Il-Sung Square marking the 75th Anniversary of North Korea’s founding, the Worker-Peasant Red Guards paramilitary force unveiled a fleet of multiple rocket launchers disguised as civilian trucks. The box trucks and dump trucks had 12 tubes each of what appeared to be 122mm artillery rockets deployed via their pop-up and slide door roofs. The dump truck crews even sported yellow hardhats with their rifles. 

Fake dump trucks that can have rocket artillery concealed inside. KCNA

The parade heavily featured the paramilitary force, with a fleet of tractors pulling rocket-launchers and anti-tank guided missiles on trailers. 

• North Korea displayed similar systems towing guided missile launchers in the same parade two years ago. 
• The tractors are a clear representation of a very real North Korean operational tactic — using these civilian instruments for all-out war should a conflict kick off. 
• This heavy weaponry also underlines how North Korea’s “civil defense” possesses significant firepower.

Civilian tractors were seen pulling trailers with anti-tank missiles, rocket artillery, and anti-aircraft guns attached. (KCNA)

Worker-Peasant Red Guard rocket launchers disguised as dump trucks during a parade in Pyongyang on September 9. KCNA.

Worker-Peasant Red Guard rocket launchers concealed within container trucks during a parade in Pyongyang on September 9. KCNA.

The trucks also are indicative of a growing rebirth of old deception tactics to further conceal military equipment on the battlefield. 

• The U.S. is viewing similar tactics as critical to a fight in the Pacific. 
• But, above all useless, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has clearly demonstrated the the changing nature of how and what constitutes an intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) asset and how those assets detect enemy units and directing fires on them. 
• ISTAR capabilities have largely been democratized via the proliferation of relatively cheap unmanned systems. 

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