Russians use North Korean missile replicas for “Konkurs” ATGM

North Korea is expanding its military aid to Russia, which also includes missiles for Konkurs anti-tank systems and rockets for Grad missile systems.

This was reported by the National Intelligence Service of South Korea on its official website.

The official website of the agency provides examples of weapons that North Korea supplied to Russia and which were used against the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.

Thus, among the transferred weapons, the agency noted that the Russians had 9M113 anti-tank guided missiles, which were part of the “Konkurs” anti-tank systems.

It should be noted that the development of North Korean anti-tank systems and which the Soviet models served as the basis for the development of some of them are not known for certain. In addition, some of the anti-tank systems, according to South Korean intelligence, have been modernized and improved independently.

In the DPRK, anti-tank systems have historically used the Phoenix (불새) index. For example, the Soviet 9M113 Konkurs ATGM has the Korean designation Phoenix-2 and is used in conjunction with Bassoon anti-tank systems, which are designated Phoenix-1.

However, some experts disagree with this classification, believing that the indexing of replicas of the Soviet ATGMs originates from the Malyutka system, which was supplied in large quantities to North Korea, where it was put into production.

It is not known for certain whether the DPRK had supplied Russia with launchers for missiles of its own production. If such supplies did not take place, it can be assumed that the level of modernization of the Phoenix-2 was rather insignificant.

In addition to anti-tank weapons, the Russian army has also been seen armed with North Korean 122 mm rockets for the Grad MLRS, which are produced in North Korea for its own needs.

It should be noted that North Korea is increasingly cooperating with Russia and supplying important weapons, including KN-23 ballistic missiles, which are very similar to the Russian Iskander-M.

Nevertheless, the North Korean missile has significant differences from the Iskander ballistic missiles, as it is produced at a different technological level and is generally of lower quality and reliability.

Earlier, Militarnyi reported that North Korea had sent about 5 million artillery shells of various calibers to Russia by rail.