“The S&T Daewoo K11 DAW (Dual-barrel Air-burst Weapon) [above] is an assault rifle chambered to fire 5.56×45mm NATO rounds, as well as 20×30mm air-burst smart grenade from its overbarrel launcher.” wikipedi.org informs, correctly deploying the “a” word. “Two conventional 20 mm shells either detonate immediately on impact or on a timed fuse after impact. A third type of shell is controlled by the weapon’s integrated electronics to explode a few meters from the target, yielding an air burst effect capable of killing targets within a 6m area and seriously wounding those within an 8 m area. Users enter a range at which the shell is to detonate, allowing targets in ditches, in buildings, or behind walls to be destroyed without requiring the shell to strike the target.” In theory. In practice . . .
South Korea will complete a major upgrade on the home-grown dual-barrel K-11 rifle by the end of 2016, the head of the state defense development agency said Wednesday, after the use of the Army assault rifle was suspended last year due to a glitch in the shooting control system.
“(We) are pushing to improve the K-11 dual-barrel rifle by a large scale before the end of next year in order to turn what has become an ugly duckling into a swan in the shortest time possible.” . . .
Since a major defect was found in the shooting control system in September last year, the production and use of the K-11 rifle have been suspended, including about 900 units that had already been distributed to the Army.
Even before last year, the assault rifle had defects in many other parts, including barrel movement during firing and the striking mechanism.
The agency has successfully developed the technology to reduce the shock generated in firing the 5.56 mm rounds by as much as 40 percent and it is also reviewing a design to decrease the shock of launching the 20 mm shells, Jung said.
The envisioned upgrade may cut back by 10 percent the weight of the K-11 rifle, now weighing 6.1 kilograms, he said.
The upgrade is also likely to strengthen the ammunition power of the rifle while modifying it to be better fitting for human use, he also said.
As the koreaherald.com report reports, the K-11 rifle is part of the country’s efforts to replace all their imported weapons with domestically-produced variants. As wikipedia.org points out, the U.S. version of the K-11 airburst rifle is not without its issues . . .
One of the problems with the previous American Objective Individual Combat Weapon, which influenced the combination rifle/airburst launcher concept, was that its 20 mm grenade rounds were not very lethal. The fragments were often too small and light to be effective, there was not enough explosive material to create a large kill radius, and many fragments were dispersed vertically and away from the target. This was one of the reasons the OICW effort was cancelled, and it is not known if these deficiencies were addressed with the K11’s airburst grenades of the same size.
Good on Korea for keeping with it. Haenguneul bileoyo with that.