According to today’s Korea Times, the ROK plans to deploy a “srapnel” bullet firing rifle into the army. Don’t ask me, it’s not my spelling. After checking google for “srapnel” it linked directly to the KT article so it’s probably safe to assume they meant “shrapnel” bullet firing. Well, the article corrects itself in the the first paragraph:
“South Korean Army soldiers will be able to use a new type of rifle that fires… shrapnel beginning next year, the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) said… “
Classified (tentatively) as the XK-11, it appears to be the ROK version of the American/German XM29, minus the modularity.
Video of the new assault rifle can be found here and here. No news yet on whether or not this weapon will be described as one developed with “indigenous technology.”
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
Will the srapnel gun soot the enemy? Is it worth giving a sit?
I remember reading an article in one of the Engrish newspapers here in 05 or 06 that Korea was the first to try and develope such a weapon.
I wrote to them that they were/are wrong and provided proof. Do you think they corrected their error? Nope.
The XM29 program was cancelled btw.
What’s the point of this expensive weaponry anyway?
The greatest enemy of Korea – the leftists, have infiltrated the Parliament, twice the presidency at the highest level, the human right organizations and the whole society.
You can’t beat them with weapons. You need mature and rationally thinking people.
If not, those “srapnels” will be used against the ones who paid for them – the South Koreans.
it’s 6kg. Much heavier than the normal rifle. Watch out for Chinese spies.
True True we need to ship those leftist 빨갱이’s to North Korea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ebtj1jR7c&feature=related
“The greatest enemy of Korea – the leftists, have infiltrated the Parliament, twice the presidency at the highest level, the human right organizations and the whole society.”
I don’t like the extreme so-called “progressives” here either, but if this “infiltration” were as complete as you suggest, one might assume that after ten years of “the leftists” running the show, South Korea would have ditched capitalism/market economy, nationalized foreign companies, torn up the US/ROK alliance, ordered American troops off their soil, and banned both opposition political organizations and the free press. Hasn’t happened.
which is why Korean lefties are like lefties across the world. France is very critical of the US, but curiously silent on Soviet war crimes, and misdeeds against humanity. You could even say France is better friends with Russia.
All lefties are for high taxes and the welfare state.
debilitating, selfish, union strikes? France, Korea.
Haven’t been to France, but roadblocks and such, France is the father.
dda, am I right?
I can’t imagine every freak’in conscript in the ROK army being armed with one of these. I mean each one is $16k for crying out loud. Compare that to a Daewoo K-2 M-16 knockoff for $600 a unit.
It’s use will most likely be specialized and it could be a squad support weapon at best. 11 man squad you have six rifleman, two machine gunners, a grenadier, the lead sergant and a guy with a K-11. Maybe two K-11s per squad for each of the two teams in a squad? I don’t know…
#9,
Probably, but I don’t see a point in having one of these as a support weapon if the squad has machine guns. Maybe it will be used as a lighter alternative to a machine gun for recon units.
Past experience working with the ROK military suggests this is a reverse engineered weapon from somewhere else. The ROK generally doesn’t blaze the trail of innovation, especially in military technology.
As for their reverse engineering of the English language, they are quite experienced at that.
being first is a mental disease in South Korea. I don’t know if the North Koreans are also preoccupied with the thought.
there’s a Korean? saying that copying is the mother of creativity or something like that.
copying is fine, if it is acknowledged and done with a legit license (Daewoo building Pontiacs, Hyundai buildng Mitsubishis), and eventually leading to making it much better than the original, like Japan does.
the western-US shift in my thought pattern is that being original and first doesn’t mean much. So what, who cares about the prototype? The present matters more.
did you know that sex was invented in Korea? Jigoo is populated by the Korean protoman. That rice was discovered in Korea? East Asia owes its tummy to Korea. Surely you know that Park Hyukguhsae invented agriculture? Yisoonshin also invented the armored vehicle, but he died before building it.
LOL.
I’m pretty sure this is billed as a Korean invention. 1st in the world. KBS, SBS, MBC, YTN all probably gave it at least 5 minutes of air time in the 9pm news.
Uh no creativity is everything. Koreans dont get that. I dont know why, but it probably has to do with the shitty left.
New innovations, creativity think is the ONLY WAY TO GROW AN ECONOMY AFTER CONVERGENCE.
I’ll repeat that,
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IS THE ONLY WAY TO GROW AN ECONOMY AND IMPROVE THE STANDARD OF LIFE OF A COUNTRY AFTER CONVERGENCE.
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IS THE ONLY WAY TO GROW AN ECONOMY AND IMPROVE THE STANDARD OF LIFE OF A COUNTRY AFTER CONVERGENCE.
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IS THE ONLY WAY TO GROW AN ECONOMY AND IMPROVE THE STANDARD OF LIFE OF A COUNTRY AFTER CONVERGENCE.
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IS THE ONLY WAY TO GROW AN ECONOMY AND IMPROVE THE STANDARD OF LIFE OF A COUNTRY AFTER CONVERGENCE.
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IS THE ONLY WAY TO GROW AN ECONOMY AND IMPROVE THE STANDARD OF LIFE OF A COUNTRY AFTER CONVERGENCE.
CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IS THE ONLY WAY TO GROW AN ECONOMY AND IMPROVE THE STANDARD OF LIFE OF A COUNTRY AFTER CONVERGENCE.
KOREA! KOREA! KOREA! Korea #1! F*** Apollo Ohno!!!
Some of you guys really need to get out and enjoy the fresh air.
Funny coming from someone who exhibits zero creativity himself.
Just for the record, I had nothing to do with the writing for that piece
Dram,
You think they would of corrected it by now… Still “srapnel” as of 7/29, 3:39pm Korean time.
#17
the most hilarious comment so far
LOL!
Corrected as of 3:45 p.m.
It won’t end up on the srap heap, then.
“The OICW will not replace all of the M16s/M4s. The current U.S. Army Basis of Issue (BOI) is 4 OICW weapon systems per 9-man squad.”
http://www.global-security.org
Marmot commentators / posters making fun of Koreans’ English spelling should look at their own spelling first
WangKon, the KT fires off “crapnel” every day in all its articles. They’re too cheap to hire professional editors and as for the staff, English is a distant second language. Quote it at your own peril
Relax dda…
We’d make fun of it if it was the NYT, Wapo or LAT.
WJK is being an idiot per usual. China already had an OICW project that combined an assault rifle with a grenade launcher well before Korea. In fact, they did one better, by having a superior layout and not copying the the American XM-29.
# 24,
No worries… I try to be selective with what I quote from the KT.
However, given modest number of readership for English transalations of Korean publications, one has to think that providing English trans is more of a civic rather than an economic decision on their part.
In other words, they are not making money on their English trans. So… quality suffers.
Jing, interesting for you to say
“China did not copy”
Show us a video.
correct me if I’m wrong but werent/arent the Korean armed forces stationed in Iraqi Kurdistan somewhere? Isnt there a bit of a conflict of interest here if we’re selling the weapons which will prolly be used against the Kurds in Turkey? Maybe it’s a stretch to say that but still…
NYT… comment in wrong thread?
And my point would still stand, relaxed and all
Interesting take on the Korean OICW here.
Koreans Build A Better OICW
man, i guess i’m the only hippie here… i’m somewhat saddened to see this gun… my bleeding heart liberal side makes me cringe at the idea of showering some hapless fool with shrapnel.
“showering some hapless fool with shrapnel.”
Would you have a problem if he shot at you first?
no, you are right. I wouldn’t have a problem if he shot at me first.
But if the gun turns out to be a success, then it won’t be long until that hapless fool will be shooting at me with essentially the same gun…
Doubt it… at $16k a unit, if you are a terrorist organization or an insurgent wouldn’t you rather buy 20 used M-16s or 50 used AK-47s or 100 IEDs, etc. It’s an opportunity cost.
The more likely situation where you’d face someone with this gun is if you are fighting another first world country that you somehow go to war against. However, in the early 21st century, it’s hard it imagine a scenario where one first world country will fight another.
Well… there is the case of expensive Stinger missiles in the hands of Afghani’s during the war w/the Soviets. However, even in that case, the Afghani’s would of never had the Stinger’s if they were not backed by a first world country (in that case, the U.S.).
You think you would **have** learned the proper spelling for that one, too…
#9,
Ever served in the military? Then you should know that 16000$ isn’t that much. My piece of kit cost about 24 million dollars. The ordnance was 200 000$ apiece.
#10,
At 6kg, it’s practically as heavy as a squad automatic rifle (but with the disadvantage of being magazine fed).
The air burst rounds are basically long distance shotgun shells.
So, it’s probably not a fitting substitute for a grenade launcher, either.
Someguy,
$16k is a lot for a individual weapon for each and every conscripted grunt. Please read the context of my comment.
Thank you.
Interesting…
Korea exports their K-11 to the UAE…
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htweap/articles/20100514.aspx
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