North Korea successfully launched a long-range missile Sunday morning from a location near Kusang into the Sea of Japan, according to US Pacific Command. The US is still assessing the type of the missile, but the flight was “not consistent with an intercontinental ballistic missile,” according to a PACOM press release. North Korean state-owned media said the missile flew a distance of 489 miles and reached an altitude of 1,312 miles, Reuters reported. The Russian defense ministry also said the missile landed just over 300 miles from the Russian coast. NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu called the launch “a new flagrant breach of a series of United Nations Security Council resolutions, constituting a threat to international peace and security,” in a statement released Sunday. Sunday’s launch was the first success for North Korea after a number of failed attempts in April, and it marks Pyongyang’s first launch since the election of new South Korean president Moon Jae-in. The North successfully launched four ballistic missiles on one day in March.
A legislative standoff has led to a lapse in a $4.26 billion small business innovation contracting program widely used by the Air Force and could spell the end of it entirely, industry sources warned Air & Space Forces Magazine.
