Turks use variant of Korean artillery to punish Syria

by Robert Koehler on October 4, 2012

in Korean Military

In case anyone was wondering—I know I certainly was—the Turkish guns used to punish Syria today were the T-155, the Turkish variant of Korea’s K-9, the self-propelled howitzers used to retaliate against North Korea during the shelling of Yeonpyeongdo in 2010.

Tagged as: K-9, T-155

{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Jakgani October 4, 2012 at 10:48 pm

If I was in charge in Turkey – I wouldn’t stop – destroy Syria.

Syria has gone too far killing innocent mothers and children in Turkey – who are Turkish citizens.

Problem is Turkey doesn’t know who fired the missiles.

2 Liz October 4, 2012 at 10:53 pm

Howitzers?

Are you kidding me. What a throwback to Meiji-era Japan.

3 redwhitedude October 5, 2012 at 1:29 am

If I were turkey I’d wouldn’t get too sucked into the other middle eastern affairs. Let Iran and Israel go at each other.

Howitzers tested on NK but the results are still not back from it.

4 WangKon936 October 5, 2012 at 1:39 am

redwhitedude,

The K-9 Thunder is a fine artillery system. It’s problems at Yeonpyeongdo were not with the artillery itself per se, but the lack of reliable counter battery radar because the Korean military didn’t see it fit invest properly in it (i.e. they were cheap).

http://38north.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/38North_SR11-1_Bermudez_Yeonpyeong-do.pdf

“…the Marines on the five West Sea islands operate two AN/
TPQ-37 Fire Finder counter-battery radars—one based on Yŏnp’yŏng-do and the other on Paengnyŏng-do. Both radars were acquired from the ROK Army, which purchased them from the U.S. in 1996 and 1998. The radars were deployed to the islands in February 2010 but have frequently been out of service for repairs. The AN/TPQ-37 on Yŏnp’yŏng-do suffered an antenna failure on April 16, a transformer and power supply failure on May 28, faulty wiring problems on July 21 and an unknown problem on November 23. The AN/TPQ-37 radar on Paengnyŏng-do had a problem with its signal receivers on February 21. That these maintenance problems were allowed to persist is likely a function of defense budgetary constraints, as well as a ROK military culture that views the Marines as the “red-headed stepchild” of the armed forces, rather than an indictment of the Marine units on the island.”

5 cm October 5, 2012 at 3:04 am

From other sources, I have read ROK Marines are given second and third rate equipment. I am not sure how true that is, but for a highly trained 20,000 combat force, you would think they would get the best equipment and the best of everything.

6 WangKon936 October 5, 2012 at 4:56 am

Chronically broken counter battery radar so close to the North Koreans is inexcusable.

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