North Korea tests a guided rocket built like America’s GMLRS

North Korea test-fired an upgraded, precision-guided 240mm rocket on Sept. 22, state media said Sept. 24, claiming the new round can strike targets up to 115 km (71 miles) away, close enough to reach the Seoul metropolitan area from launch positions north of the Demilitarized Zone. North Korea has built the rocket along the same basic concept as the U.S. Army’s GMLRS, the guided rocket fired from HIMARS: take a large-caliber artillery rocket and add a guidance package so it can hit a specific point rather than simply saturating an area.

GMLRS, short for Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, is the precision rocket the U.S. Army fires from HIMARS, trading the wide dispersal of older unguided rockets for a satellite-guided system that can hit a specific point target dozens of kilometers away. North Korea’s new 240mm rocket follows the same basic concept: take an existing large-caliber artillery rocket and add a guidance package so it can be aimed rather than simply launched en masse.

The Korean Central News Agency said the test was part of North Korea’s five-year defense development plan and involved what it called an “updated 240mm guided rocket.” The agency said the rocket uses an onboard precision guidance system and can reach 100 km (62 miles) on a standard ballistic trajectory, or up to 115 km using a combined glide-and-ballistic flight path, a range and flight profile that puts it in the same general class as extended-range versions of GMLRS.

This guided rocket is a distinct weapon from North Korea’s older 240mm multiple rocket launcher, sometimes called the M1991 by Western analysts, which fires unguided, spin-stabilized rockets in mass salvos with a range of roughly 40 to 60 km. North Korea has supplied that older, unguided system to Russia for use against Ukraine. Ukrainian intelligence and open-source reporting have documented North Korean M1991 launchers, along with M-1989 self-propelled howitzers and ballistic missiles, transferred to Russian forces since late 2024, and Russian troops have used the rockets on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to footage geolocated by Ukrainian military journalists.

North Korea first tested a guided version of the 240mm rocket in May 2024, then tested an upgraded variant again on May 26, 2026, alongside two other systems: an AI-guided tactical cruise missile and a separate, lightweight rocket launcher that Western analysts have compared to HIMARS itself, distinct from the 240mm rocket program. That HIMARS-style launcher first appeared publicly at a 2023 military parade, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected it moving toward production during a factory tour Sept. 16 to 18, according to state media.

South Korea’s military has previously tracked North Korean weapons tests independently, though it has not always confirmed Pyongyang’s specific performance claims, and Seoul has not yet issued its own assessment of the Sept. 22 guided rocket test or the range figures North Korea reported.