North Korea's missile arsenal: Can US, THAAD and Patriot stop North Korea's Hwasong missiles

Hwasong, which means ‘Mars’, forms the backbone of North Korea's ballistic missiles program. In the series, there are short-range tactical missiles as well as long range inter continental missiles. These missiles are based on solid-fuel technologies, which allow faster and more concealed launches. The most lethal of them are Hwasong-20, Hwasong-19, Hwasong-18, and Hwasong-17. Each of them has a minimum range of 15000 kilometres, which puts all the major cities of the US, including Washington, New York and California, in its range.

Unveiled in October 2025, it is North Korea's newest and most advanced solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile. The next-gen "doomsday" missile is harder to detect. It has advanced Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs) make it possible to hit multiple targets with one missile. Travelling at hypersonic speed up to (Mach 22), Hwasong-20 can reach all major US cities between 25 and 40 minutes. Hwasong-19, Hwasong-18, and Hwasong-17 all of them can reach any cities in the US within 30-40 minutes.

Hwasong-20 is the most deadly missile in North Korea's arsenal. The missile has an estimated payload capacity of over two metric tonnes, which is capable of carrying a hydrogen bomb or 3-8 separate warheads, each capable of hitting separate cities like New York, Washington, and California simultaneously. Like Hwasong 20, Hwasong-18 and 19 also carry nuclear warheads, and all of them have advanced Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs).

Eventhough US has a layered missile defence system, its effectiveness against ICBMs like Hwasong is not guaranteed. The Ground-Based Midcourse Defence (GMD), which is the primary defence against incoming projectile has a success rate of a maximum of 55-60 per cent in a scripted simulation. Meaning one out of 3 will at least hit the target. The other layer is Aegis Ballistic Missile Defence, which is equipped in a naval destroyer primarily for short range trargets can intercept ICBMs. Next is THAAD and Patriot, which are terminal defence systems which are used for regional defences to cover much smaller geographic areas, rather than large cities.

However, there is a catch: these missiles are solid fuel, so they can be immediately taken out of bunkers and can strike quickly without much delay, reducing reaction time before any movement is spotted on satellite or radar images. These missiles have MIRV, so they can overwhelm missile defences with decoys and multiple warheads, which will waste expensive interceptors on fake targets or a swarm of targets. So it is possible to stop an attack, but it is also equally possible that the attack can overwhelm the defences with swarming and evasive tehniques.