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White Hat Hackers: An Illustration of War: US vs. North Korea Capabilities

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The editors at Homeland Security Degrees decided to research the topic of:

An Illustration of War: US vs. North Korea Capabilities

Defense Budgets in 2012

The United States defense budget blows North Korea's budget out of the water.

North Korea


- Defense Budget: $7 Billion [2]

United States


- Defense Budget: $689.6 Billion [1]

Numerical Comparison

North Korea


- N. Korea Population is 24,451,285 with 12,933,972 in Available Manpower[2]
- 10,066,704 = Fit For Service[2]
- That means...
- 77.8% Available to Serve[2]
- Of those available to serve... they have 8,200,000 in front line reserves.[2]
- ~34% of the total North Korean population are waiting in front line reserves!
- Win: More Available Manpower
- While they may win in the sheer numbers game, it's known that North Koreans are typically shorter and smaller than Americans. They're also smaller than their South Korean counterparts, even though they're from the same geographical area.
Air Power
Total Aircraft Power: 1,667

The larger percentage of this is made up of:


- H-5 Beagle Jet Bombers: ~80
- MiG-29 A/S Fulcrums: ~35
- MiG-23 ML Floggers: ~46
- MiG-29 Fishbed/Chengdu J-7: ~150
- And other aircrafts with a smaller count.
- Total Helicopters: 237 [6]
- The larger percentage of this is made up of: [6]
- Mi-24 Hind Attack Helicopters: ~20
- Mi-4 Hound Support Helicopters: ~48
- Mi-2 Hoplite: ~139
- Hughes 500D Transport Helicopter: ~80
- And a host of other ones at smaller numbers.
Land Systems
Total Available Systems: 81,680

- Verified information is scarce on the engine specifications of North Korea's most used tanks, but the following are a few examples of land systems currently in use:
- Main Battle Tanks:
- - Pokpung-ho
- - Chonma-ho
- - A mixture of variants with Russian designs: T-55, T-59, T-62, T-76, T-82, T-85
Light Tanks for Rapid Movement

- Amphibious PT-76: Originally a Soviet design
- Amphibious PT-85
Naval Power

- Aircraft Carriers: None
- Frigates: 3
- Destroyers: None
- Corvettes: None
- Subs: 70
- Coastal Crafts: 471
- Mine Warfare: 23
- Amphibious Assault: 273

North Korea's strongest force by the numbers is on the ground, with over 81k available systems.

United States

Manpower

- United States Population is 313,847, 465 with 145,212,012 in Available Manpower
- 120,002,084 = Fit For Service
- 82.6% Available to Serve
- Of those available to serve... they have 8,200,000 in front line reserves.
Air Power

- Total Aircraft Power: 15,293
- Aircraft examples
- A-10 Thunderbolt II (retiring)- 345
- C-17 Globemaster III- 213
- C-130 Hercules- 328
- F-16 Fighting Falcon (retiring)- 1003
- Total Helicopters: 6,665
- AH-64 Apache- 727
- UH-60 Black Hawk- 1443
- UH-1 Iroquois- 875
Land Systems

- Total Available Systems: 173,826
- Win: That's over twice as many as N. Korea!
- The current tank of choice is the M1 Abrams, with versions and moderations. In general, it contains: [7]
- - Multifuel Gas Turbine
- - 6 Speed
- - Top Speed of 45 MPH
- - High Power Density 330 cc Rotary Engine
Naval Power

- Aircraft Carriers: 10
- Frigates: 24
- Destroyers: 61
- Subs: 71
- Coastal Crafts: 12
- Mine Warfare: 14
- Amphibious Assault: 28

The strongest force for the United States by the numbers is also landpower, with over 173k available.

Where do we stand if we're comparing from a purely numerical standpoint?

United States Wins

- Land Power
- Aircraft Power
North Korea Wins

- % able to serve
- Naval power

Nuclear Weapons

What about nuclear weapons? Will the threat of nuclear war turn to reality?

North Korea announced its withdrawal from the NPT in January 2003. There are rumors that they have enough Plutonium for 4-8 nuclear warheads.

North Korea's Nuclear Dance

- True or False? Plutonium to produce 4-8 warheads
- Answer: Only a suspicion
- Mid 2000-: North Korea thought to be receiving materials from Pakistan for uranium production facility
- January 2003: Declared its withdrawal from NPT
- February 2005: Announcement on manufacturing of nuclear weapons
- April 2005: Shut down 5MW(e) Reactor
- Sept 2005: Agreed to abandon all nuclear programs
- 2010: Unveiled centrifuge facility
- February 2013: Supposed "successful" underground nuclear detonation
- May 2012: Declared they're a "nuclear armed state"
Key North Korean Nuclear Weapons and Estimated Ranges (Not Exhaustive)

Along with N. Korea declaring that they're a Nuclear Armed State, here is a snapshot of the current Nuclear Weapon States.

Nuclear Weapon States
- China: ~ 240 warheads
- France: >300 operational warheads
- Russia: 4,521 warheads
- United Kingdom: 225 warheads
- United States: Total 5,113 warheads

What would happen if we ended up going to war with N. Korea from nuclear threats?

Sources


- [1]http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=United-States-of-America
- [2]http://www.globalfirepower.com/country-military-strength-detail.asp?country_id=North-Korea
- [3] http://i.imgur.com/aHsayNH.png
- [4]http://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/Nuclearweaponswhohaswhat
- [5]http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/RL34256.pdf
- [6]http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/10/graphic-north-koreas-conventional-arms/
- [7]http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/m1-specs.htm
- [8]http://isis-online.org/uploads/isis-reports/documents/dprk_fissile_material_production_16Aug2012.pdf
- [9]http://en.rian.ru/images/18051/23/180512377.jpg


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