North Korea arms russia with powerful tank destroyers amid war

North Korea has been supporting Russia with ammunition and spare parts deliveries for over a year. It has been revealed that Pyongyang also supplied Russia with military equipment, specifically wheeled tank destroyers known as Bulsae. Here's what we know about this vehicle.

A photo appeared online showing a new Russian vehicle in the Belgorod region. Ukrainian intelligence reportedly also spotted the mysterious machine in an open area. The design resembles a variant of the North Korean Bulsae. If these reports are confirmed, this would be the first instance of Pyongyang sending a combat vehicle to Ukraine.

Some commentators claim it is the Bulsae-4, but according to Piotr Zbies, a columnist for "Nowa Technika Wojskowa," it is a newer variant, Bulsae-6. This is likely since the new system is classified as NLOS (Non-Line-of-Sight Anti-Tank Guided Missile), meaning an anti-tank-guided missile launcher that targets beyond the line of sight.

For this reason, it is unlikely that the vehicle used 9M111 Fagot anti-tank missiles with a range of about one mile. More likely, it used a modified version of the 9M133 Kornet variant with a range exceeding six miles.

Deliveries of complete weapon systems from North Korea highlight the collapse of the Russian defense industry. The industry cannot produce "modern" equipment in the required quantity, so Russia is turning to equipment produced by Iran and North Korea.

Aside from deliveries of poorly made North Korean ammunition, wheeled tank destroyers have appeared on the front, which will be much more effective than machines from the T-62 or T-54/55 families. This gives Russia a weapon with a much longer range and stronger hitting power. For North Korea, deploying such vehicles in Ukraine is a practical test of their capabilities in real combat conditions. It could raise international concerns that Pyongyang will more boldly support Russia.

The destroyer is unlikely to match the level of Spike NLOS, which has a range of 16 miles or more, but it certainly represents a better solution than Lancet drones with modest warheads. Meanwhile, a system based on Bulsae-6 missiles can penetrate over three feet of armored steel, even after overcoming single-layer reactive armor, using a warhead similar to the 9M133 Kornet.

Notably, earlier versions of Bulsae missiles are derived from Soviet or Russian solutions. For example, the Bulsae-3 is a direct lineage of the 9M111 Fagot with a range of about one mile. The Bulsae-4 is modernized with a larger diameter and laser beam guidance, reportedly increasing the range to three miles. The Bulsae-5, on the other hand, is the 9M133 Kornet with a range of up to five miles.

The Bulsae-6 may likely be a variation of the latter with a longer missile equipped with more rocket fuel, translating to an increased range. However, the guidance system remains a mystery. At such a large range, communication with the launched missile via a deployed optical fiber is not optimal, and laser guidance is not a practical option either.

For example, in the Israeli solution, there is an encrypted radio link and an optoelectronic head that sees the target's thermal image. It is possible that the Koreans could rely on an ordinary daytime camera, similar to the Iranian copy of the Israeli Spike known as "Almas." This issue will remain unknown until remnants of the system or its missiles make their way to the internet.