North Korea Says Zam-2.0 Torpedo Uses AI for Underwater Targeting

A new torpedo claim puts naval weapons in focus

North Korea says it has tested an underwater weapon called Zam-2.0 that uses artificial intelligence to detect targets and guide itself toward them. The announcement on Saturday followed a Thursday test and described propulsion technology developed through more than 180 related tests over five years.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea's state news agency, said the test confirmed a successful technical upgrade to the torpedo. It described the weapon as capable of very high speed and precise guidance, bringing together two difficult tasks: moving rapidly through water and maintaining control while pursuing a target.

The announcement came a day after North Korea's latest submarine missile launches. Together with recently commissioned destroyers, the demonstrations show how Pyongyang is extending its weapons development beyond the ballistic missiles that have dominated attention for years.

North Korea gave no measured speed, range or accuracy for Zam-2.0, did not explain how its AI works and did not identify a deployment date. South Korea's military did not immediately comment on the announcement.

What Thursday's test was intended to check

KCNA said the underwater firing was conducted to confirm the weapon's technical upgrade. Its account identified two areas of development: the software used to find and follow targets, and the machinery used to propel the torpedo.

KCNA described the role of artificial intelligence in the system:

AI technology was applied to the target detection and the guidance function of the new-type super-speed precisely guided torpedo.

Target detection means identifying something the weapon might attack. Guidance means deciding how to steer toward it. A torpedo needs both functions to pursue a moving vessel, although North Korea left the division of work between software and human operators unexplained.

Senior defense officials who supervised the test praised its outcome. KCNA said they assessed that it:

served as a great success foreseeing a significant change in the actual development of the Navy

That assessment places Zam-2.0 within North Korea's broader naval expansion. The practical questions are how reliably the weapon can find a ship, maintain its course and reach its intended target under operating conditions.

More than 180 tests focused on propulsion

North Korea's most specific development figure concerned propulsion. KCNA said more than 180 related tests had taken place over the preceding five years, indicating a sustained effort to improve how the weapon moves underwater.

KCNA described what the latest test checked:

The test proved the core technology for raising the efficiency of propulsion and the performance of rocket propulsion devices.

Propulsion is the force that pushes a weapon forward. Greater efficiency means using the available energy more effectively. For a torpedo, improvements can affect speed, endurance or the amount of equipment it can carry, depending on the design.

The reference to rocket propulsion is especially relevant to the claim of very high speed. Water resists movement much more strongly than air, so pushing a torpedo faster creates demanding engineering problems. Stronger propulsion must work alongside a body shape and control system capable of handling those forces.

Could Zam-2.0 travel inside a bubble?

A possible explanation for the combination of rocket propulsion and very high speed is a design known as a supercavitating torpedo. North Korea has not identified Zam-2.0 as such a weapon, so its precise design remains uncertain.

Supercavitation allows a torpedo to travel largely inside a gas cavity, or bubble, formed around its body. With less of the weapon touching the surrounding water, resistance falls and much higher speeds become possible.

Steering presents a major challenge. A weapon moving rapidly inside a bubble must preserve that bubble while adjusting its course. Effective guidance and control at high speed underwater have complicated efforts elsewhere to put such weapons into operational service.

Zam-2.0's claimed combination of speed and precision therefore matters more than either description alone. Speed can shorten a defending ship's reaction time; guidance determines whether the weapon can still reach a target that is moving or trying to escape.

What AI could mean for targeting

North Korea has recently attached the AI label to more than one weapons program. Kim Jong Un called in September for raising the level of artificial intelligence in the country's weapons systems, and his sister, Kim Yo Jong, said missiles tested on October 3 also used AI technology.

Artificial intelligence is a broad term for software that performs tasks such as recognizing patterns or choosing actions from incoming information. In a torpedo, it could help process sensor information, identify a possible target or adjust the route toward it.

Different tasks require different levels of independence. Software that helps follow a target selected by an operator has a narrower job than software that chooses which vessel to attack. North Korea's announcement described detection and guidance without specifying that decision process.

The most useful measures of performance would be concrete ones: whether the weapon consistently identifies its intended target, how accurately it follows a changing course and how it performs when underwater conditions are difficult. Those measurements were absent from Saturday's announcement.

A sequence of missile and naval demonstrations

Thursday's torpedo test followed several weapons demonstrations in recent weeks. North Korea tested hypersonic missile systems on September 20 and October 3, then returned to underwater missile launches on Wednesday.

The sequence connects the new torpedo announcement to a wider effort to expand the range of weapons available to North Korean forces:

• September 20: North Korea tested hypersonic missile systems as part of efforts to develop weapons intended to overwhelm missile defenses.
• October 3: Another hypersonic missile test took place. Kim Yo Jong said the missiles used artificial intelligence.
• Wednesday: North Korea conducted its first underwater missile launches in nearly three years, apparently using a submarine.
• Thursday: North Korea tested Zam-2.0 underwater to check its technical upgrade.
• Saturday: KCNA announced the torpedo test and its claimed AI functions.

Hypersonic weapons travel at least five times the speed of sound. North Korea's recent missile work has focused on weapons intended to challenge defenses in South Korea and Japan. The torpedo program addresses a different environment: naval operations beneath the sea.

Wednesday's launches were described as involving two tactical cruise missiles, while another description identified two types of strategic cruise missiles. Both placed the launch platform at a presumed submarine of roughly 3,000 tons in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan.

Submarines and destroyers widen the naval push

North Korea has described its developing submarine capability as intended to launch nuclear weapons. Wednesday's firing brought attention back to that effort after nearly three years without an underwater missile launch.

A submarine can carry weapons while remaining hidden beneath the surface. A torpedo provides a different means of attack from a cruise missile: it travels through water toward a maritime target, while a cruise missile flies through the air.

Shin Jong-woo, secretary-general of the Korea Defense and Security Forum, assessed that North Korea is developing new torpedoes for submarines as it expands those capabilities. He described the purpose of the effort:

It is an attempt to narrow the gap in military capabilities with the South Korean Navy.

North Korea has also recently commissioned two destroyers, Choe Hyon and Kang Kon, each described as a vessel of about 5,000 tons. They were commissioned in the West Sea and East Sea, respectively. These surface ships add another part to the naval expansion alongside submarines and underwater weapons.

Why South Korean surface ships are a focus

Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies, interpreted the torpedo demonstration as a message directed at South Korea's larger naval vessels.

The test launch appears to have been intended to flaunt its super-speed AI-driven torpedo, which is difficult to detect in advance and avoid, targeting the South Korean Navy's major surface ships,

A faster incoming weapon can leave a ship less time to detect the threat and respond. Reliable guidance would add to that difficulty by allowing the torpedo to adjust as the vessel moves. Lim's assessment explains why North Korea is presenting speed and AI together in its announcement.

South Korea's military often accuses Pyongyang of exaggerating its weapons technology. Its lack of an immediate response leaves North Korea's announcement as the principal public account of Thursday's test.

Kim Jong Un has halted diplomacy and cooperation with South Korea and described it as a permanent enemy, while nuclear negotiations with Washington remain stalled. Against that political backdrop, the latest tests combine weapons development with a public message about North Korea's growing military ambitions at sea.

Key Points

• North Korea says it tested the Zam-2.0 torpedo underwater on Thursday and announced the result on Saturday.
• KCNA said AI was applied to target detection and guidance, without explaining the technology or its level of independence.
• The announcement cited more than 180 propulsion tests over five years and claimed improvements to rocket propulsion performance.
• A supercavitating design is a possible explanation for the speed claim, but the weapon's design remains unspecified.
• The test followed submarine missile launches and the commissioning of the Choe Hyon and Kang Kon destroyers.
• North Korea gave no measured speed, range, accuracy or deployment date. South Korea's military did not immediately comment.