North Korea’s Cruise Missiles vs. U.S. Tomahawk: Game-Changer in the Region? – Part 1

North Korean Cruise Missiles Excluded from International Sanctions Net
Diversification of Offensive Means, Overloading ROK-U.S. Defense Network
Numerous Loopholes in Air Defense, Particularly Threatening to South Korea
Proposal for Development of K-SSAM’s Ground-based Derivative Model

Since the Gulf War in 1991, the United States has often initiated military engagements with the launch of Tomahawk cruise missiles, marking the start of hostilities. This pattern continued with the onset of conflicts in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, where Tomahawk missiles were among the first munitions used. The 2011 military operation in Libya began with a significant barrage of 124 Tomahawk missiles. These operations utilized conventional warhead-equipped Tomahawks.

In 2014, during the campaign against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, a Sunni armed group designated as a terrorist organization, the U.S. launched 47 Tomahawk cruise missiles at IS strongholds. Another instance occurred in 2018 when 59 Tomahawk missiles were deployed against Syrian chemical weapon facilities controlled by the Bashar al-Assad regime. Most recently, in January, Tomahawk cruise missiles were also used to bomb pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have used Israel’s war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas as an excuse to blockade the Red Sea, the “artery” of global logistics.

The U.S. has used this tactic in each of the wars it has fought, bombing its adversaries with Tomahawk cruise missiles to cripple their key infrastructure shortly after the opening bell. Despite being relatively slow with a top speed of 890 km/h and a maximum range of 2,500 km, the precision of the Tomahawk missile is remarkable, with more than half of them capable of hitting within a 1m radius of their target when ten missiles are launched. This high level of accuracy has led to the Tomahawk being viewed as a “signal flare.”

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