Poland approves the purchase of 218 South Korean Chunmoo K239 MLRS rocket launchers

Defense News November 2022 Global Security army industry
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According to a Tweet published by the Polish Ministry of Defense on November 4, 2022, Poland approved an agreement with South Korea to acquire 218 Chunmoo K239 MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System).
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South Korean army Chunmoo K239 multi-caliber rocket launcher system. (Picture source Army Recognition)

This new announcement of military purchase manufactured by the South Korean defense industry, follows the order of K2 tanks and K9 howitzers by Poland that was announced in July 2022. In fact, On July 27, 2022, the Army Recognition editorial team reported that Poland will order from South Korea 980 K2 Main Battle Tanks, 648 K9 155mm tracked self-propelled howitzers and 48 FA-50 fighter aircraft.

At the same time, Poland has also shown interest to acquire the latest generation of AS-21 Redback tracked armored IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) also designed and developed by the South Korean defense industry. The AS21 was recently tested by the Polish Army.

The Chunmoo K239 is a multi-caliber K-MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) developed and manufactured by the South Korean company Hanwha Defense. The rocket launcher system is able to fire 130 mm non-guided rockets (20 rockets to each pod), 227mm non-guided rockets (6 rockets to each pod), and 239mm guided rockets (6 rockets to each pod).

The Chunmoo K-MLRS is based on an 8x8 truck chassis also manufactured by the Company Hanwha. the design of the MLRS consists of an armored crew cab located at the front and the launcher weapon station mounted at the rear of the truck chassis.

The Chunmoo K-MLRS is fitted with a computerized fire control system. It can fire 130mm, 227mm, and 239mm rockets. Rockets can be fitted with HE-FRAG (High-Explosive Fragmentation), incendiary, smoke, illumination, and cargo warheads with anti-tank or pre-fragmented anti-personnel sub-munitions. The types of rockets can be mixed (for example 1 container of 20x 130mm and 1 container of 6x 239mm). The 130mm rockets have a range of 36 Km while the larger 230mm-class rockets have a range of about 80 Km for the non-guided one and 160 Km for the guided variant.