The
Hwasong-16A is a two-stage, solid-fueled missile, uses the same booster as
Hwasong-16B, which is based on the
Hwasong-18 solid-fueled ICBM. A solid-fuel IRBM would be able to threaten U.S. military bases such as on
Guam as far as away from North Korea, while having the same advantages of being easier to move and quicker to launch than the liquid-fueled
Hwasong-12 IRBM. North Korean media also claimed the missile was equipped with a
hypersonic warhead, which was similar to the conical, finned
maneuverable reentry vehicle (MaRV) payload used on the
Hwasong-8's MaRV version. Such a payload would complicate
ballistic missile defenses due to its lower altitude flight path keeping it below radar coverage longer and the ability to perform terminal maneuvers. Data from the January 2024 test-fire showed that the missile achieved a maximum speed of . ==History==