Hwasong-15 and warning satellites
North Korea's Hwasong-15 ICBM tests force Washington to accelerate its space-based early-warning constellation. Every state's missile programme becomes a forcing function for someone else's satellite spend.
A working catalogue entry, kept current. Each paragraph is drawn from the publicly documented record.
On 28 November 2017 North Korea successfully tests the Hwasong-15 ICBM, with a maximum range estimated at 13,000 km — sufficient to reach the continental United States. The launch forces Washington to accelerate its space-based early-warning constellation refresh and to bring forward investments in next-generation infrared sensors.
Every state's missile programme, in this episode as in others, becomes a forcing function for someone else's satellite spend. The pattern recurs at every escalation in every regional missile competition through the 2020s.
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