Military and Commercial Technology: South Korea procurement agency suspends plan to supply K-11 rifles

Friday, 3 August 2018

South Korea procurement agency suspends plan to supply K-11 rifles

K-11 assault rifle - zonwar.ru

State procurement agency suspends plan to supply K-11 rifles

SEOUL, Aug. 3 (Yonhap) -- The state defense procurement agency said Friday that it has temporarily suspended a plan to supply dozens of indigenous K-11 assault rifles to the Army due to a defect in its firing control system.

The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said that, during its recent quality checkup on the airburst rifle, it found cracks in its firing control system that appeared to have been caused by pressure from a cartridge case.

"We will thoroughly verify the cause (of the problem). As a result of this, there may be a delay of more than six months, meaning the supply may resume next year," a DAPA official told Yonhap News Agency, declining to be named.

The DAPA initially planned to supply 52 K-11 rifles by September.

Due to the latest problem, the military has also decided to stop using all 914 K-11 rifles that it received from 2010-2013.

The state-run Agency for Defense Development developed the rifle between 2000 and 2008 with a budget of 18.5 billion won (US$16.3 million).

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Source: yonhapnews.co.kr

K-11 assault rifle

The K11 is an unusual dual-barrel weapon with a distinctive appearance. It was developed in South Korea. The K11 was inspired by the US XM29 OICW, which was eventually cancelled. The South Koreans are known to reverse engineer US prototype weapons. The K11 integrates both 5.56 mm assault rifle and 20 mm grenade launcher into a single weapon. Furthermore it has a fire control system. The South Korean K11 was slightly more successful than its US counterpart. It was adopted by the South Korean army in 2010 and is currently used in small numbers. Overall it is more advanced than the American XM29 OICW. The K11 was the first production weapon of its kind. However this South Korean weapon reportedly remains problematic and unreliable.

유용원의 군사세계

The K11 integrates a modified Daewoo K2 assault rifle, which is rather conventional in design. This weapon has a shorter barrel. It is a gas-operated weapon, chambered for a standard NATO 5.56x45 mm ammunition.

The integrated grenade launcher has a bullpup layout. It is located over the rifle component. It is a single-shot, bolt-action weapon. Grenade launcher of the American XM29 OICW could load grenades automatically after each shot. However South Koreans eliminated this feature in order to save weight.

This South Korean weapon fires specially designed "smart" grenades. The 20 mm programmable grenades, are electronically set to explode for airburst at predefined ranges. Theses are effective against area targets, such as hostile troops hidden behind cover, in the vegetation or in the trenches. The grenades can be also set to engage point targets, such as unarmored and lightly armored vehicles. A standard fragmentation grenade weights around 85 g and has a killing radius of around 7 meters.

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The assault rifle is fed from 30-round capacity magazines. These are standard magazines of the K1 and K2 assault rifles that are widely used by the South Korean military. This weapon is compatible with all standard NATO (M16-type) magazines.

The grenade launcher is a magazine-fed weapon. However after each shot the shooter has to reload it manually. Its magazine is made of transparent plastic, so the shooter can easily see how many grenades are left in the magazine.

유용원의 군사세계

This weapon fires both 5.56 mm and 20 mm ammunition with single trigger. A fire mode selector for the assault rifle and grenade launcher is located over the pistol grip and is conveniently operated by a thumb. It has positions for "semi-auto", "3-round burst", and "airburst".

This weapon uses a large boxy electronic sight, which is used to aim both the assault rifle and grenade launcher. The sight has a built-in laser rangefinder, ballistic computer and grenade programming interface. It is used to pre-set electronic fuses of 20 mm grenades for airburst at predefined ranges. Such computerized fire control system allows the shooter to accurately target the grenades. Furthermore the sighting unit incorporates both day and night sights. The night sight has got an infrared sensor. Control buttons of the sight are located on the foregrip. The sight can be completely removed from the weapon.