New anti-aircraft gun has 3-kilometer range

Korea successfully developed a 30-millimeter wheel-type anti-aircraft gun system that has a longer range and better mobility than the previous model, the arms procurement agency said Wednesday.

Under the 55 billion won ($46.58 million) project launched in June, 2015, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and Hanwha Defense developed the anti-aircraft gun wheeled vehicle system, and final tests and evaluations proved that it met all the military requirements.

As a system designed to ward off low-altitude attacks by enemy aircraft, the new weapon has an effective range of 3 kilometers (1.8 miles), some 1.6 times longer than the 20 millimeter Vulcan anti-aircraft guns, and its latest targeting systems allow it to have automatic tracking and self-targeting capabilities, according to the DAPA.

The adoption of the wheeled platform also enabled it to provide active mobile and localized support for troops, it added.

“The new system is expected to nearly quadruple the military’s mission capabilities,” DAPA spokesman Park Jeong-eun said.

Five major local defense companies, including Hanwha, as well as 200 small firms, participated in the project, and around 95 percent of the system was made with Korean technologies, Park noted.

Yonhap