Munitions

Hwasong-5 ballistic missile

The Hwasong-5 is North Korea's Scud-B-derived short-range ballistic missile, a road-mobile liquid-fueled weapon with roughly 300 km range. In the Yemen Civil War, Houthi-aligned forces are documented as fielding inherited Yemeni Hwasong-5/6 stocks, with most assessed as converted into Burkan-series missiles rather than retained as unmodified missiles.

Conflict side
Houthi-aligned forces
Built by
North Korean defense industry
Built in
North Korea
Hwasong-5 ballistic missile, Road-mobile short-range ballistic missile, Munitions

Profile

Type
Road-mobile short-range ballistic missile
Conflict side
Houthi-aligned forces
Origin
North Korea; Yemeni examples inherited from pre-war Yemeni Army stocks
Service note
Entered North Korean service in the mid-1980s; documented in Yemen Civil War inventories after 2014

Service History

In service
Entered service around 1986
Used by
Korean People's Army Strategic Force, Pre-war Yemeni Army, Houthi-aligned forces
Wars
Yemen Civil War

Production History

Designer
North Korean missile program, derived from the Soviet R-17/Scud-B
Designed
Early 1980s
Built by
North Korean defense industry
Built in
North Korea
Unit cost
Not publicly established
Produced
Mid-1980s to early 1990s
Number built
About 300 missiles reported by CSIS/Jane's-derived estimates
Variants
Hwasong-5, Shahab-1 Iranian derivative, Burkan-series Yemeni conversions assessed from Scud/Hwasong stocks

Specifications

Range
About 300 km
Warhead
Single warhead, about 985 kg high explosive or submunition payload class
Propulsion
Single-stage liquid-fueled rocket motor
Dimensions
10.94 m length and 0.88 m diameter
Launch weight
About 5,860 kg
Accuracy
About 450 m CEP
Launch platform
Road-mobile TEL, including MAZ-543-derived launch vehicles or converted trucks

Conflict Usage

Yemen Civil War
Side: Houthi-aligned forcesRole: Inherited short-range ballistic missile stock and Burkan conversion basestrikedeep strike

Houthi-aligned forces fielded inherited pre-war Yemeni Army Hwasong-5/6 ballistic-missile stocks during the Yemen Civil War; Oryx assesses most were converted into Burkan missiles and the remaining stocks were depleted.

Hwasong-5 ballistic missile Images

Related Weapon Systems

R-17 Scud-B ballistic missile, Short-range ballistic missile, MunitionsMunitionsR-17 Scud-B ballistic missileShort-range ballistic missileThe R-17 Elbrus, known to NATO as the SS-1C Scud-B, is a Soviet road-mobile, liquid-fueled short-range ballistic missile built for deep strikes with conventional, chemical, or nuclear payloads. Armenian forces used Scud-B missiles in strikes on Ganja during the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict, and Houthi-aligned forces fielded inherited Yemeni R-17E/Scud-B stocks during the Yemen Civil War, illustrating the continued battlefield and political risk of older, inaccurate ballistic missiles in regional wars.

Sources