Quote:
Originally Posted by rubecube
Well, North Korea's army is substantially larger than South Korea's, but you can bet your ass that NATO would in there like white on rice if the DPRK ever tried advancing past the DMZ. As much as China likes to make noise, there's no chance in hell they're going to get as heavily involved (if at all) in another conflict. Ditto for the Russians.
|
If you look at armour, North Korea has a distinct edge in terms of tanks and AFV's in numbers. However, the majority of the North Korean stock is made up of T-55's andT-62 with some T-72's. these are no match for the M1A1 that the South Korean's deploy in terms of speed, firepower, fire control and armor. The American tank has a longer range and fires better on the move, the M1A1 is also one of the most indestructible tanks in the world. North Korea is rumored to have fielded their own new main battle tank in small numbers, but its equivalent to the T-90 at best and more likely equivalent to a T-80 not a match.
Their main AFV is based around the old Russian BDRM-2. By modern standards its a poor fit for the South Korean Bradly. Its lightly armed doesn't have a anti tank weapons selection and its poorly armored.
In terms of artillary, North Korea is a good match to the South, they have a distinct advantage in numbers, however South Korea has a edge in terms of modern mobile Artillary systems that are hyper accurate due to modern fire controls and GPS linkage. North Korea has spent a lot of money on non mobile fixed artillary and counter battery technology, but the South Korean's would balance this off with air superiority and find and fire ground radar.
The Battle for the air wouldn't even be close,
while the North Korean airforce looks large on paper with over 500 fighters and 200 dedicated strike aircraft. The fighter force is made up of a mix of Mig 29's for defense of the capital airspace and the badly obsolete Mig 23 and 21's. They depend on the SU-25 for strike packages, this plane while excellent could struggle. The rumor is that out of the 500 fighters about 35 can actually take to the air and fight and only 11 Su-25's are mission capable. Contrary to the movies, North Korea does not have much in the way of dedicated strike helicopters.
North Korea has built one of the most advanced SAM networks in the world combining radar with fixed and non fixed missile and gun batteries.
In terms of army versus army, the average North Korean soldier is smaller then the South Korean solder due to diet and not as well equipt, there is also a lack of on field intelligent assets. They do have an edge in numbers though. The average North Korean Soldier is not trained to made decisions or take initiative. their training is based around brutal discipline and heavy political indoctrination from cradle to grave. They will not surrender because they're hungry. They are also highly mobile very much like the NVA army.
The South Korean soldier endures the same kind of brutal discipline, but they are lavishly trained and equip. Because the South Korean army follows the American model they are very air mobile and trained to appear anywhere on the map in a short period of time. They also have the advantage of technology and fight better at night and can use non personal intelligence to pin down the enemy.
Where the North has the big advantage is their special forces formation. There are a lot of them, they are lavishly trained and equipt, they are the pampered of the NK military and well fed and trained. They are also fierce and extremely loyal. Their job is to infiltrate and target civilian infrastructure. Create terror, destroy the political structure of their enemy and paralyze the enemy by forcing them to chase ghosts. They can infiltrate via land, sea or air through low observable gliders, there are also hundreds of tunnels that go under the DMZ and deep into South Korea.
I would talk about the navy vs navy but its likely in any war scenario that the American's biggest contribution would be carrier task forces and SSN's. North Korea would not survive that encounter.
Yesterday Kim the Younger took the time to go out and inspect the military commands and stopped on the North Korean side of the DMZ to glare menacingly at the South.