Can North Korea Actually Hit the United States With a Nuclear Weapon?
Schematic diagram of the re-entry vehicle
Atmospheric forces and intense heat affect the re-entry vehicle
Schematic diagram of the
Atmospheric forces and
intense heat affect the
One trick of designers is to coat the reentry vehicle with thick materials
that burn off evenly, making an ablative shield that sends dangerous heat into the wake.
Highly advanced states that have worked on the problem for decades can launch ICBMs whose warheads will hit target areas
roughly 200 meters wide – “an astonishing technical achievement,” says Donald MacKenzie, author of “Inventing Accuracy.”
One estimate for North Korea, based on the accuracy of other first-generation
ICBMs, ranges between three and five kilometers, or about two to three miles.
If the North keeps up its rate of missile tests, it will likely have perfected a crude re-entry
vehicle by next year, if it doesn’t possess one already, private analysts say.
