North Korea has reported a successful North Korea weapons test of a new precision-guided torpedo that uses artificial intelligence to find and steer toward targets, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). The underwater firing of the “super-speed” Zam-2.0 system took place on Thursday, the agency said, to check a technical update of the weapon. Saturday’s announcement fits a wider pattern of rapid weapons activity by the nuclear-armed state.
What KCNA says the torpedo can do
KCNA said AI was applied to target detection and guidance on the “new-type” torpedo. It also said the test proved core technology meant to raise propulsion efficiency and the performance of a rocket propulsion device. The agency added that more than 180 rounds of different tests had been completed over the past five years.
Torpedoes are weapons built to strike ships or other underwater targets at high speed. Analysts say adding AI could, in theory, help a weapon make evasive moves or decide between real targets and decoys meant to confuse it. Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University, said South Korea and the United States deploy decoy targets to divert torpedoes, but AI “could potentially help distinguish real targets from decoys.”
Recent firings and the wider arms race
The torpedo claim came days after Pyongyang said it had test-fired two types of cruise missiles from a submarine, following weeks of tension with Seoul over a landmine blast along their border. Earlier this month, North Korea also announced an AI-assisted launch of an intermediate-range hypersonic missile, saying there was “no way to avoid” a weapon able to change its flight path at low altitude.
Hypersonic missiles travel at more than five times the speed of sound and can manoeuvre in flight, which makes them harder to track. After North Korea’s claim, Seoul test-fired its own hypersonic glide vehicle. Pyongyang this week suggested Seoul may have “failed to achieve hypersonic flight”; South Korea rejected that claim a day later. In September, Kim Jong Un stressed raising “the level of artificial intelligence” in the country’s weapons systems.
Analysts say North Korea could be advancing missile and other systems with Russian support linked to troops sent for Russia’s war against Ukraine. Yang Moo-jin, former president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, said Pyongyang may be playing down Seoul’s programme to look ahead of a US ally before any possible summit. He also warned that cutting underwater noise at high speed is a major technical challenge, and that North Korea does not yet appear to have reached that level.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- September: Kim Jong Un called for higher artificial intelligence levels in weapons systems.
- Earlier this month: North Korea announced an AI-assisted intermediate-range hypersonic missile launch.
- Days later: South Korea test-fired its own hypersonic glide vehicle; Pyongyang cast doubt on that test this week, and Seoul rejected the claim.
- Recent days: Pyongyang said it fired two types of cruise missiles from a submarine after border friction with Seoul.
- Thursday: Underwater test-fire of the Zam-2.0 “super-speed” torpedo system, KCNA said.
- Saturday: KCNA announced the AI-assisted torpedo result; Trump said he “may” meet Kim around November’s APEC gathering in China.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Shumali Korea ne AI wala torpedo underwater test kiya hai, jo jahazon ya dusre underwater nishanay par lagta hai. State media ke mutabiq yeh Zam-2.0 system target dhoondne aur uski taraf jaane mein AI use karta hai. Is se Korea ke peninsula par hathyaron ki race tez nazar aa rahi hai. Pakistanis ke bills seedha nahi badlenge, lekin aisi tests Asia mein amn aur diplomacy ko mutasir kar sakti hain.
