North Korea¡¯s Thunderbird Runways Monday, 19th May 2008 by James
As any bond villain will attest, a true megalomaniacal dictator should have a number of underground lairs from which to hatch evil plots.
As we can see, North Korea¡¯s Kim Jong-Il and his associates have plans to go one better than the average Bond villain, and are imitating the Thunderbirds with this runway being constructed underneath a mountain.
The runway, in the region of Wonsan, sticks out a bit at either end so we can measure it at 1800m long and 30m wide. A close up of the entrance shows its still being constructed.
The idea here seems to be that foreign military satellites (and Google Earth enthusiasts) would be unable to see what aircraft North Korea have under the mountain, so if a war broke out Thunderbird 2 could use the runway for launch.
The North Korean military are apparently so convinced that the ¡°runway mountain¡± is the future of modern warfare that they¡¯ve actually built three separate runways across the country. This second example is in the area of Onchon.
I¡¯ve never claimed to be a military expert, but this all seems a bit mad to me - surely the benefits of hidden aircraft are outweighed by the fact that it would be very easy for an attacked to completely ruin the airbase with one strategically placed bomb at the entrance?
Thanks to danescombe.
View in Google Earth
Rate This Sight! (20 votes, average: 3.25 out of 5)Locations: North Korea / Categories: Aircraft 14 Responses to 'North Korea¡¯s Thunderbird Runways' 1. Rick C. says:
May 19th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
My guess is that this may be a test facility for experimental aircraft. I would not think that this would be used during a conflict.
2. Nico says:
May 19th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Two cruise missiles. = Death trap for hundreds of scientists and dozens of top secret billion dollar aircraft.
You can¡¯t hide such stuff¡¦ you can either test xor hide it.
3. Tammo says:
May 19th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
If you just want to hide something from view (like experimental aircraft), it would be MUCH easier and cheaper to just build a hangar.
As for the protection value: Any runway is fairly easily damaged by a few well placed bombs ¡¦ but also repaired fairly easily. Destroying something INSIDE a mountain (like military assets) with bombs is a whole different proposition ¡¦ as the fairly fruitless campaign against
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tora_Bora showed. As long as there is some blast protection at the entrances any non-nuclear bombing will likely not damage anything inside ¡¦
4. FC says:
May 19th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Check out Switzerland underground air bases: they literally are like buried aircraft carriers with aircraft exits on higways.
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562341466EYsUtC5. myquealer says:
May 19th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
How loud will it be in these tunnels when an aircraft is accelerating to takeoff? Yikes!
6. Jack says:
May 19th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Reminds me of the Navy yard that China has¡¦
7. Jack says:
May 19th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
a link to what I was talking about
china base
8. Alex says:
May 19th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
@Jack, it seems you forgot to include the link?
9. Jack says:
May 20th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Chinese Secret Base
¡¦ try, try again¡¦
10. Barry says:
May 20th, 2008 at 4:59 am
You wouldn¡¯t want to need to do a ¡°go around¡± on this runway. If you needed to pull out of the landing you¡¯d risk slamming into the side of the mountain.
11. Romanov says:
May 20th, 2008 at 10:56 am
This reminds me. Has Tracy Island been found on Google Earth yet?
12. Jel says:
May 20th, 2008 at 11:43 am
The Swiss situation¡¯s a bit different: they¡¯ve got room for some runways on valley floors, but rarely for all the support services to go with them, so they used their tunnelling experience to make more space.
And there I was thinking the Beloved Leader rather more resembles the Hood¡¦
13. Eric Olthwaite says:
May 20th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
The two straight areas on either side of the hill/mountain are not exactly aligned. It looks much more like a mining operation. The longer straight area extend out into what looks like wetland/paddy fields.
14. dr.R. says:
May 20th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
@Eric, the lower part is in a different image, so maybe that¡¯s why the two parts are not exactly aligned. But you are right, how sure can we be that this is a runway indeed? It all doesn¡¯t make sense - you can hide your fighters in the mountain, sure enough, but why let them *take off* in the mountain? It¡¯s not that taking off takes such a long time. And the runway is still vulnerable to bombings, as you still need part of it to be outside - it¡¯s not that you can get airborne while being in the tunnel. Why would the mountain be in the middle part of the runway? And then there are too many obstacles around it¡¦
But then, North Korean leadership is completely mad anyway¡¦
NORTH KOREA NEWS 
