Mon, Apr 28, 2008
Planes Would Operate From 6,000-Foot Tunnel Runway
Cumulo-granite... it's not just dark
aviation humor anymore.
London's Sunday Times reports a defector from North Korea's
military has alerted the west to what appears to be a North Korean
military base being built under a mountain.
The goal would be to create a 6,000-foot runway which could be
hardened against a "shock-and-awe" campaign during the opening
moments of an enemy attack, shielding warplanes from fire until
they emerged at high speed from the mouth of a tunnel.
The South Korean press reported the project was identified by an
air force defector from North Korea and captured on a satellite
image by Google Earth. The fighter base is near the demilitarized
zone with South Korea, and is one of three underground bases
reportedly under construction.
Foreign policy analysts are already a-twitter with discussions
of the significance of the new evidence of underground military
infrastructure, especially against the backdrop of Kim Jong-il's
nuclear ambitions and impoverished populace. The highly-beligerant
regime recently unleashed a new round of thinly-veiled threats
against US interests in South Korea.
"The prevailing situation requires the whole party and army and
all the people to get fully prepared to go into action," state-run
North Korean media said on Friday.
While there's just enough ambiguity here to raise eyebrows, two
things appear certain. First, a lecture from your flight instructor
is no longer the most-feared consequence of getting off the runway
centerline during climbout.
Second... if the US ever finds itself at war to defend South
Korea, the last place you'll want to be is under a mountain in
North Korea, taxiing for takeoff at one end of a 6,000-foot earthen
cannon barrel.
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