Attack on continental US with North Korean Il-28s

[Vahe Demirjian]

Suppose Kim Jong-un was fed up with the fact the US was continuing to reject offers for a peace treaty to end the Korean War and he decided that ICBM development was too expensive. He could just modify a number of Korean People's Air Force Il-28s by fitting them with enormous backswept wings spanning 297 feet and arm them with a dozen 30-kiloton nuclear bombs to rain devastation on Los Angeles and Phoenix in the event that the United States and its allies condemn the impending launch of the Kwangmyongsong-4 weather satellite.

If the US does not contain the situation on the Korean peninsula, we could be headed for the biggest showdown between democracy and tyranny since the end of WW2.

 

[quellish]

Suppose Kim Jong-un was fed up with the fact the US was continuing to reject offers for a peace treaty to end the Korean War and he decided that ICBM development was too expensive. He could just modify a number of Korean People's Air Force Il-28s by fitting them with enormous backswept wings spanning 297 feet and arm them with a dozen 30-kiloton nuclear bombs to rain devastation on Los Angeles and Phoenix in the event that the United States and its allies condemn the impending launch of the Kwangmyongsong-4 weather satellite.

If the US does not contain the situation on the Korean peninsula, we could be headed for the biggest showdown between democracy and tyranny since the end of WW2.

1. Not likely to have a dozen devices at this point unless they have mastered composite levitated cores.
2. I don't think they have hit 30kt yet, much less with something deliverable.
3. Modifying the aircraft would require manufacturing capabilities they do not have.
4. Such an attack would require a lot of calories. They don't have much of those either.

 

[Bill Walker]

If the US does not contain the situation on the Korean peninsula, we could be headed for the biggest showdown between democracy and tyranny since the end of WW2.

You mean like it wasn't contained in 1954? Or 1955? Or 1956? Or.....

 

[Avimimus]

...and here I thought that massive over-estimation of the range and threat possed by the Il-28 had ended in 1955, or 1956, or...

 

[Byeman]

fitting them with enormous backswept wings spanning 297 feet

Would be seen by reconsats.

 

[Byeman]

on Los Angeles and Phoenix i

What says they make to the US?

 

[flateric]

Of course - because they will be painted 'lethal black'(c)

 

[RanulfC]

Suppose Kim Jong-un was fed up with the fact the US was continuing to reject offers for a peace treaty to end the Korean War and he decided that ICBM development was too expensive. He could just modify a number of Korean People's Air Force Il-28s by fitting them with enormous backswept wings spanning 297 feet and arm them with a dozen 30-kiloton nuclear bombs to rain devastation on Los Angeles and Phoenix in the event that the United States and its allies condemn the impending launch of the Kwangmyongsong-4 weather satellite.

If the US does not contain the situation on the Korean peninsula, we could be headed for the biggest showdown between democracy and tyranny since the end of WW2.

First, not the best source but...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilyushin_Il-28

Now look at a map. How do they GET to the US? Can you find a possible route they could use that keeps them OUT of any hostile radar range? (Don't forget just taking OFF they show up on South Korean/US radar.) Considering the distance what do they do if they overfly a neutral or hostile radar/observer during the flight? (Considering how interconnected the majority of the world is they would in all likely hood be trackable by Twitter let alone intel-assets How do they carry enough fuel for the trip even one way? How do they penetrate the US Air Defense Zones? Heck Air TRAFFIC control systems will pick them up well short of the US border. How is the modification (297 foot wing span versus the original 70ft wings) going to be carried out without someone seeing them in progress? Can the Il-28 even carry that much mass? The engines are both old and weak, 297 foot wings, enough fuel for a one way trip, and the weapons mass is going to severly strain the airframe.

The biggest "flaw" in the idea is the target, why the US? There are much more closer and more "lucrative" targets that could be hit IF they had mobile bombs. Fast strikes to take out the major US and South Korean military bases would be much more advantagous to him. Of course the problem is getting a 50+ year old design light bomber to penetrate modern air defenses.

Randy