Ukrainian air defense system to be strengthened by Korean Chunggung SAMs (video)
Kyiv has officially requested air defense equipment from Seoul. According to experts, South Korea can indeed help Ukraine strengthen its air defense.
The South Korean air defense system consists of several echelons. At the lowest level are the KP-SAM man-portable air defense systems, similar to the French Mistral. Their range of target destruction is 7 km.
The M163 VADS self-propelled and trailed air defense systems are located one level higher. These systems use 20-mm Vulcan cannons capable of firing 3,000 rounds per minute to hit targets. Targets are detected by the complex using its own radar. It is an ideal option for the role of a “chess buster”. South Korea has 60 trailed and 150 self-propelled air defense systems. They are gradually being replaced by K30 Biho systems manufactured by Hanwha Defense.
According to experts, if Kyiv’s request is granted, it is highly likely that the Ukrainian Armed Forces will receive KM-SAM (another name for Chunggung) systems. They have been in service with the South Korean army since 2017. It is worth noting that Chunggung was developed jointly with the Russian concern Almaz-Antey. The latter took over the design of the command post, radar station, and missile. All of these developments were later used as the basis for the S-350 Vityaz air defense system.
