Next-Generation Anti-ship Missile

Next-Generation Anti-ship Missile
Type	Anti-ship supersonic cruise missile
Place of origin	Joseon
Service history
In service	2019–present
Used by	Royal Joseon Armed Forces
Production history
Manufacturer	Daesung Aerospace,. Inc.
Unit cost	$1,896,000 (FY 2021)
Specifications
Length	3.95 m (13 ft) with booster 3.46 m (11 ft 4 in) bare missile
Width	690 mm (2 ft 3 in)
Warhead	Titanium-cased penetrating blast and controlled fragmentation
Warhead weight	200 kg (440 lb)
Engine	Ramjet
Operational range	>450 km (240 nmi; 280 mi) in air launch 280 km (150 nmi; 170 mi) in sea launch
Flight altitude	Sea skimming optional
Speed	Mach 2.34
Guidance system	GPS-aided INS (GAINS), laser altimeter, TERCOM, Imaging Infra-Red (IIR)
Launch platform	Fighter aircraft, Mark 41 Vertical Launching System, Mark 57 Peripheral Vertical Launch System

The Next-Generation Anti-ship Missile(NGAM) is a supersonic air-to-ship/ship-to-ship cruise missile developed by Joseon's Daesung Aerospace. Developed as a successor to the SSM-700K C-Star, the NGAM began its deployment in the Navy and Air Force in 2019.

The missile is expected to replace the entire inventory of SSM-700K C-Star and AGM-84 Harpoon missiles held by the Royal Joseon Armed Forces by the mid-2020s.

Design and features

The state-of-the-art design and use of composite materials are meant to give the missile sophisticated stealth capabilities. Warhead initiation is by a void-sensing Programmable Intelligent Multi-Purpose Fuze designed to optimise effect against hard targets. NGAM is able to fly over and around landmasses, travel in sea skim mode, and then make random maneuvers in the terminal phase, making it harder to intercept by enemy countermeasures.

The target selection technology provides NGAM with a capacity for independent detection, recognition, and discrimination of targets at sea or on the coast. This is possible by the combination of an imaging infrared (IIR) seeker and an onboard target database. NGAM is able to navigate by GPS, inertial and TERCOM systems.

Unlike conventional supersonic missiles, NGAM defies the high-dive flight method and flies with sea-skimming and evasive maneuvers at an altitude of 3 meters while maintaining the basic framework of supersonic anti-ship missiles. This takes the characteristics of Western subsonic missiles into account.

Because the cruising speed is 2 to 3 times the speed of sound and more than 4 times the maximum speed of sound just before entering the target, supersonic missiles are difficult for the enemy to intercept at that speed alone, but unlike previous generations of missiles that rely solely on speed, NGAM has the characteristic of flying close to the surface, which can reduce the enemy's chances of intercepting by extremely reducing the distance detectable by the enemy.

In addition, NGAM is a supersonic anti-ship missile, but it has the ability to deceive or evade intercept attempts through 10G-level evasive maneuvers, making it more difficult for the enemy to intercept the missile. When NGAM enters the terminal phase, it performs a pattern-based evasive maneuver based on a randomly determined pattern, further reducing the likelihood that the enemy can intercept the missile.

The NGAM is equipped with ECCM functionality based on AI sensors to counter modern electronic countermeasures. If it is determined that the enemy is attempting ECM on the missile, the NGAM automatically tracks the source of the radio waves coming from which they emit the jamming radio waves and strikes the target emitting the jamming radio waves. At this stage, the NGAM again identifies and attacks the target with the optical/active radar composite sensor, preparation for in case the enemy deliberately uses a decoy to emit the radio waves or mimics the signal from the high-value target.

Operators

Joseon

• Royal Joseon Navy
• Royal Joseon Air Force