First revealed to the outside world sometime before 2011 during the construction of the DPRK's Tonghae SLC launchpad-3, with a flame bucket measuring over 10 meters in diameters, the launcher follows the architecture of the vintage Soviet Soyuz. In its first stage, it is powered by a Safir-2 (Simorgh) stretched core stage called Sarir, with the addition of 4 others Safir-2 as liquid propellant strap-on boosters. Forming a R-7/Semyorka equivalent named Sarir Heavy.