According to LIG Nex1, the company is cooperating with both the Republic of Korea Navy and South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) to expand export opportunities for the country’s defense industry at RIMPAC 2022. The K-LOGIR, in particular, has been on display on ROKS Marado, a South Korean amphibious assault ship, since July 4th and is said to be drawing the attention of service members from participating navies, including Admiral Samuel Paparo, Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, who visited the vessel last week.
The Poniard / K-LOGIR has a range of 8 km and was jointly developed by South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development and LIG Nex1, with work being completed in 2016. The 2.75-inch rocket has an onboard guidance system, allowing the operator to “fire-and-forget” once the missile has been launched. In addition to this, the rocket’s search-and-track and fire control systems can be integrated onto vehicles, such as trucks, giving it great flexibility.
The Republic of Korea Marines Corps replaced its M47 Patton tank-based coastal defense guns with truck-mounted K-LOGIRs in 2017. In 2019, the system became the first South Korean-made weapon to complete a Foreign Comparative Test (FCT). The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) conducts FCTs to evaluate weapons systems developed by allies. During the test held in 2019, which was presided over by officials from the DoD, the K-LOGIR successfully hit the target during all 10 launches conducted.
LIG Nex1 is carrying out a joint marketing campaign for the system with Raytheon. Last August, the two companies displayed the Poniard at the Sea-Air-Space Exposition 2021.
Some observers are speculating that air-to-ship and air-to-ground variants of K-LOGIR could also be in development. If the program does proceed, it is likely that the developer for these variants will either be LIG Nex1 or Hanwha.
RIMPAC is a U.S.-led multinational exercise that has been held biannually since 1971. South Korea has been a fully-fledged participant since 1990 and is sending its largest force ever deployed to RIMPAC to the 28th iteration of the exercise this year.
