KN-25
The 600 mm multiple rocket launcher, widely known outside North Korea by its United States's designation KN-25, is a weapon system that is referred to by North Korean state media as multiple rocket launcher, and by South Korea and the United States as short-range ballistic missile.
Description
The KN-25 is developed as a hybrid weapon system between short-range ballistic missile and traditional multiple rocket launcher. Officially described as a "super-large" MRL; however, KN-25 has characteristics of a ballistic missile. Because of its larger size and greater range compared to traditional rocket artillery, the United States Forces Korea categorizes it as a SRBM. It flies on a controlled ballistic trajectory. Missiles are estimated to be in diameter, long, and weigh. They have an unspecified guidance system and have six rotating rear fins, with four moving forward fins, which likely provide the attitude control of the rocket. They are mounted on multiple types of launcher, including a four-tube Tatra 813 8×8 wheeled transporter-erector-launcher, a tracked chassis with 10 road wheels on each side, carrying six tubes, or a six-tube, wheeled chassis.It is a battlefield weapon, suitable for deployment at battalion-level, to attack enemy rear-echelon targets and infrastructures, such as airfield and command center, out to, with a conventional blast-fragmentation warhead. In October 2022, the KN-25 was included in a statement among other missiles that North Korea claimed were part of its capability to deliver tactical nuclear weapons. At a military parade in February 2023, the KN-25 was included among other missiles which the North Korean press collectively referred to these as "tactical nuclear weapons operation units." In March 2023, North Korea confirmed that KN-25 can be equipped with the Hwasan-31 nuclear warhead.
The six rotating rear fins are an unusual feature for rocket artillery, a considerable innovation of North Korea. Their purpose is to provide stabilisation of the rocket while in flight, compared to other rocket artillery rounds, which are usually spin stabilised by rotating the entire body. This method of stabilisation creates a more favourable environment for the guidance systems, as the rest of the missile does not rotate. It is possible that the missile will be stabilised through rolling the missile when it enters the upper atmosphere, where the smaller control fins are unable to function optimally, and then stopping the spin as it re-enters into denser air.
The missile possibly derives from the OTR-21 Tochka/Hwasong-11, which has a similarly sized motor, at 62 cm diameter. Connecting three such motor segments would result in a length similar to the KN-25 rocket. It has a 300 kg heavy warhead and circular error probable accuracy of. The KN-25 is likely an indigenous project, as media coverage of this missile emphasises its research, using words such as "Juche projectiles" to describe it, unlike the Hwasong-11A.
Mass production of KN-25 and its launcher
On 1 January 2023, 30 TELs were presented as a gift to the plenary meeting of the Worker's Party of Korea, with Kim Jong Un attending and making a speech. The system was described as "unprecedented", in both the munitions industry as having no equal and its presentation, being on the lawn of the party central committee. 30 six-tube tracked launchers plus at least nine four-tube wheeled launchers publicly showcased in North Korea's possession, would give them the ability to fire up to 216 rockets, requiring many fewer launch vehicles than would be needed to fire a similar number of traditional ballistic missiles, to saturate South Korean ballistic missile defenses.In May 2025, it was revealed that KN-25's tracked launcher has undergone mass production.