Chŏlgung air defense system

The Chŏlgung air defense system is an extended family of air defense platforms, including missile launch vehicles, air search radar vehicles, and guidance radar vehicles. It uses the YDG-60, YDG-64, YDG-65, and YDG-66 surface to air missiles to provide layered air defense for Army formations. It is regarded as a very potent system, incorporating top-of-the-line missiles and radar equipment. All combat vehicles in the Chŏlgung family use tracked hulls, giving the system components good offroad mobility.

In contrast to the Changgung air defense system, which is designed to protect fixed infrastructure, the Chŏlgung air defense system is designed to protect mobile Army formations and temporary rear-area installations. Chŏlgung-WR (long-range) and DT (anti-ballistic) battalions are used for corps-level area air defense, while Chŏlgung-JR (medium-range) is part of the divisional air defense battalion and Chŏlgung-DR (short-range) is included in the air defense battalion of a regiment or brigade.

Shared features

One of the major requirements for the Chŏlgung air defense system was good offroad mobility. While Changgung batteries can generally reach their targets on paved roads, Chŏlgung batteries must frequently operate offroad in order to keep up with maneuvering ground forces or set up firing positions in isolated areas. For this purpose, all combat vehicles in the system (radars, command posts, TELs, and TELARs) use tracked hulls. The Chŏlgung-DR family uses the JCh-6 MBT hull, the Chŏlgung-JR family uses the IMCh-J Koppulso medium utility hull, and the Chŏlgung-WR and -DT families use the IMCh-D Pokgunryong hull, itself an extended cab-forward version of the JCh-6 hull. In each case, all vehicles in a launch battery use the same hull type, resulting in good parts commonality and easier maintenance.

Another major requirement of the Chŏlgung air defense system was that it be able to withstand focused SEAD efforts. Offroad mobility addresses part of this requirement: the radar vehicles and launch vehicles can transition quickly between launch-ready and traveling configurations, usually in less than 5 minutes, compared with 20-30 for components of the Changgung air defense system. This allows for the use of shoot-and-scoot tactics, with individual batteries regularly repositioning in order to confuse enemy signals intelligence and prevent the use of satellite-guided munitions. Chŏlgung batteries typically contain a larger number of search and guidance radars than their Changgung counterparts, meaning that suppression of the battery would require a larger number of ARM impacts. As a final safeguard, the heavy armored hulls of the combat vehicles also protect the crew and internal computer systems against shrapnel from nearby bomb and missile impacts. In most cases the radar equipment or missiles are exposed and would be damaged, but the crew would be able to drive the vehicle back to a maintenance center, minimizing loss of life and damage to computer equipment.

The Chŏlgung air defense system was also designed to resist jamming and ECM efforts. All combat vehicles are fitted with the MChGJ-0802 SHF radio datalink, which operates in a frequency that rapidly dissipates in the atmosphere, making it resistant to jamming and listening efforts but also limiting its range to a few kilometers. Combat vehicles also carry VHF antennas for communications at longer ranges. For the greatest ESM and ECM resistance, all systems except Chŏlgung-DR allow the individual vehicles in a battery to connect to the battery command post with cables, though this is rarely practiced as it prolongs battery setup and stowage times and limits the allowable distance between vehicles.

Chŏlgung-DR

Chŏlgung-DR (Dan gŏri, "short range") is the short-range component of the Chŏlgung family. It consists of the JYBR-66 Chŏlsan-JCh TELAR and a battery command post with an air search radar. As a tactical-level unit, Chŏlgung-DR rarely operates as a combined battery; instead, it is standard practice to attach individual TELARs or pairs of TELARs to tactical formations in order to provide them with a localized air defense umbrella. When distributed this way, the Chŏlsan-JCh TELAR and its crew can independently acquire and engage targets with no input from a higher command post.

In addition to engaging jet aircraft and helicopters, Chŏlgung-DR is also able to protect nearby ground forces against precision guided munitions, including artillery rockets and air-launched anti-tank missiles. Each TELAR, however, only carries twelve missiles.

A typical Chŏlgung-DR battery consists of one command post and three firing platoons, each comprised of two TELARs. Only "4th generation" regimental formations are equipped with a Chŏlgung-DR battery, and even then, there is typically only one Chŏlgung-DR battery in the regiment's air defense battalion.

Chŏlgung-JR

Description

Chŏlgung-JR (Jung gŏri, "medium range") is the mid-range component of the Chŏlgung family. It consists of the Y64G1BR TELAR, the Y64G1JSR1 battery command post, and the Y64G1G TELT, with separate battalion-level radar systems.

Each Y64G1BR TELAR carries four Mark 41 self-defense-length canisters on a rear frame that elevates to 90 degrees to fire, and has a YR-124 multifunction air search radar on a rotating turret structure forward of the stowed missiles. The Y64G1BG TELT (transporter, erector, launcher, and transloader) has the same missile launch frame, but with a folding crane in place of the radar turret. Each missile canister contains four missiles, usually YDG-64G or YDG-64N types, though in 2018 the Y64G1BR2 TELAR added compatibility with the YDG-66. This means that a single TELAR or transloader can carry up to 16 surface-to-air missiles. Smaller missile loadouts may be carried in peacetime or in low-priority sectors of the front line.

The YR-124 phased array radar on the TELAR model can search for air targets within a 120-degree-wide sector, and can traverse to scan a different sector, though it has a blind spot over the rear 60-degree arc due to the placement of the missile canisters. The radar has a claimed acquisition range of 100 kilometers against a fighter-sized target and an instrumented range of 150 kilometers. All missiles in the system use active radar homing with mid-course updates via a datalink on the TELAR, but the YR-124 can also illuminate targets to provide backup SARH guidance in a jamming-intensive environment. Alternatively, a dual-band (IR and visual) electro-optical unit on the right side of the radar turret can detect, identify, track, and range (via laser) airborne targets, though at a greatly reduced range compared to the radar.

Each TELAR can control and guide missiles launched from a TELT in the same battery. If another platform, such as an airborne early warning aircraft, detects an airborne target within its field of view but outside the TELAR's field of view, it can continuously transmit target coordinates to the TELAR, which continuously transmits those coordinates to the missile via datalink. This provides a limited cooperative engagement capability function, allowing a TELAR to launch without switching on its radar or engage low-flying targets masked by terrain, though the missile ultimately receives updates from the TELAR up to the moment where it activates its seeker to perform terminal guidance.

According to official Menghean sources, the Y64G1BR TELAR can transition from travel mode to deployed mode in less than 2 minutes, and from deployed mode to travel mode in less than 1 minute. This gives the system good shoot-and-scoot capability, allowing a battery to rapidly relocate after engaging threats or rapidly deploy from a road march if threats are detected.

Structure

Each Chŏlgung-JR battery consists of two Y64G1BR TELARs, two Y64G1BG TELTs, and a battery command post, for a total of up to 64 ready-to-fire missiles. There are three batteries within a battalion, for a total of up to 192 ready-to-fire missiles. The battalion also contains long-range air search radar equipment and missile reload lorries. Each "4th generation" mechanized or armored division contains a single Chŏlgung-JR battalion.

• Y64G1DS battalion command post
• Y64G1R281 E/F-band search radar
• Y64G1R203 D-band search radar
• 3 × Chŏlgung-JR battery
  • 1 × Y64G1JSR battery command post with search radar
  • 2 × Y64G1BR1/2 TELAR
  • 2 × Y64G1BG1/2 TELT
• 3 × missile transport company
  • 2 × Samsan S915 reload transport truck