MiG fighter jets take off and land on highway as North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un proudly watches

March 8, 2013 Military Aviation, North Korea
David Cenciotti

On Feb. 28, 2013, the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released some images depicting Kim Jong Un attending wargames somewhere in North Korea.

NK runway 1

Noteworthy, as the following images prove, the drills included fighter jets operation from a local highway.

NK runway 2

According to the news agency, Korean People’s Army Air Force pilots on board their (obsolete) MiG-21 fighter jets showed the flexibility to launch sorties from remote regions where weather is unfavorable and runways/highway may experience violent gusts of wind.

NK runway 3

Image credit: KCNA

Based on the above images North Korea’s supreme leader is quite satisfied by the show and most probably believes his Air Force could effectively face South Korean and U.S. fighter planes in case of war.

I would not be as confident.

About David Cenciotti
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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

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9 Comments

  1. @cencio4 Wow, I didn’t know there even was such a thing as a “local highway” in North Korea.

    • North Korea actually has a number of very wide, very flat, and, generally, very straight “highways.” They are mostly oriented North-South.

      Private ownership of vehicles is prohibited in the DPRK, but high-ranking party members and other VIPs are granted use of personal vehicles, so there is very little motor vehicle traffic.

      They are, however, perfect for launching bombers and moving large numbers of tanks, APCs and M-TELs towards the 38th parallel.

      See: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/09/recent_scenes_from_north_korea.html#photo11

      • is that suppose to be a jet fighter , that is garbage a f-22 raptor could destroy all is airforce.

  4. This is “so 70’s”! Hope this clown stays out of touch with reality. These planes were “the thing” when I was in the USAF (1957-65)

    • Even we retired the Mig-21s. The fishbed is well.., agile but this is a whole new level of stupidity.

  5. Do you think anybody’s told him about the Gripen yet?

    Or even the Draken or Viggen, for that matter…

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