Could North Korea's Swarm Weapons Threaten The U.S. Military?

Sebastien Roblin

Security, Asia

Old weapons, but a persistent threat.

Key point: South Korea is taking it seriously.

The North Korean People’s Air Force is predominantly composed of Soviet jet designs from the 1950s, or at least their Chinese clones, plus a smaller number of aircraft from the 1970s and 1980s. However, the most numerous aircraft in North Korean service is even more antiquated: a single-engine biplane transport that first flew in 1947. North Korea operates over three hundred An-2 and Y-5 biplane transports in at least six regiments, and they play a key role in its military strategy.

How could these chunky biplanes pose a threat to adversaries fielding guided missiles and supersonic stealth fighters? North Korea has a found a way, banking on its own experience in the Korean War.

Even when the first An-2 prototype was unveiled in the Soviet Union in 1947, its biplane configuration seemed anachronistic. Aircraft with two wings exhibit more lift, lower stall speeds and superior maneuverability—but the extra drag created by the second wing imposes steep limitations on maximum speed. This led biplane designs to rapidly fall into obsolescence by the start of World War II.

However, renowned air transport designer Oleg Antonov had appreciated how slow two-seat Po-2 utility biplanes had proven highly successful at harassing German troops at night, and landing supplies and secret agents behind enemy lines; they were difficult for fast fighters to detect and intercept, and their excellent low-speed handling allowed them to operate from very short, unprepared fields. Antonov’s idea was to basically scale the Po-2 up to a light transport for agricultural and civilian use from primitive airfields across the USSR’s vast, lightly populated frontiers.

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