The KP-SAM Chiron (Korean Portable-Surface to Air Missile; ) is a South Korean shoulder-launched

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...

manufactured by

LIG Nex1 LIG Nex1 Co., Ltd. (), formerly known as LG Innotek () is a South Korean aerospace manufacturer and arms manufacturer. It was established in 1976 as Goldstar Precision. LIG Nex1 was previously owned by LIG Holdings Company, which in turn was ow ...

History

The KP-SAM Chiron was created to protect ROK troops in the forward area, which started in 1995 under the direction of

. In late 2003, the delivery of the Igla SAMs from Russia in payment for Russian debts to Korea appear to have solved the problem momentarily. The KP-SAM began production in 2004 with extended trials in early 2005. In late 2005, the KP-SAM entered service with the

South Korean Army The Republic of Korea Army (ROKA; ), also known as the ROK Army or South Korean Army, is the army of South Korea, responsible for ground-based warfare. It is the largest of the military branches of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces with 365,0 ...

, after being in development for nearly 8 years. The South Korean Army has ordered some 2000 units to be delivered in the near future. In 2011, the KP-SAM was proposed to the Indian military for potential export. It was being marketed in 2012 for India's modernization of their VSHORAD system, competing with the RBS 70, the Starstreak, the Mistral-2 and the SA-24. In November 2012, Peru announced that they will purchase the Chiron alongside 108 missiles and three TPS-830KE radar under a $USD 43 million defense contract.https://mags.shephardmedia.com/HB-samples-2018/AAD5-webmag.pdf However, the deal was called off in May 2013 over problems on paying for the contract. In 2014, Indonesia bought the KP-SAM for integration with the Skyshield 35 mm anti-aircraft system. It was previously shown at the Indo Defence 2014 exhibition. In 2021 it is reported that failure rate of the KP-SAM was at 24% due to aging inventory that has been improperly stored along lacking proficiency with the system by its operators.

Features

While the missile system externally resembles a French Mistral system, the entire missile system including the seeker, control section,

warhead A warhead is the section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket (weapon), rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: *E ...

and

motor An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

were developed and manufactured in South Korea. The missile features integrated

IFF In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (often shortened as "iff") is paraphrased by the biconditional, a logical connective between statements. The biconditional is true in two cases, where either both ...

systems, night and adverse weather capabilities, a two-colour (IR/UV)

infrared seeker Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is ra ...

to aid in negating

infrared countermeasures An infrared countermeasure (IRCM) is a device designed to protect aircraft from infrared homing ("heat seeking") missiles by confusing the missiles' infrared guidance system so that they miss their target (electronic countermeasure). Heat-see ...

(IRCM) and a proximity-fuse warhead. During development tests the missile scored a 90% hit ratio. Indonesian air force air defense weapon systems on display

Indonesian air force air defense weapon systems on display

According to

Agency for Defense Development The Agency for Defense Development (ADD, ) is the South Korean government agency for research and development in defense technology, funded by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA). It was established in August 1970 under the ban ...

officials, the missile is superior to the American

FIM-92 Stinger The FIM-92 Stinger is an American man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) that operates as an infrared homing surface-to-air missile (SAM). It can be adapted to fire from a wide variety of ground vehicles, and from helicopters and drones as th ...

or the French Mistral in hit probability, price and portability. It had been involved in a missile test where the Shingung's missile made impact on a low-flying target as high as 3.5 kilometers with a speed of 697.5 m/s (more than

Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...

2.36) and a distance range of 7 km.

Operators

* :

Indonesian Air Force The Indonesian Air Force (, sometimes shortened as IDAF / IdAF) is the Air force, aerial branch of the Indonesian National Armed Forces. The Indonesian Air Force is headquartered in Jakarta, Indonesia, and is headed by the Chief of Staff of th ...

acquired and operated Chirons since 2014 which was integrated with Oerlikon

Skyshield Skyshield air-defence system is a Modularity, modular, light weight, short range air defense (SHORAD) system developed by the Swiss corporation Oerlikon Contraves (now a subsidiary of Rheinmetall of Germany). The successor to the Oerlikon 35 m ...

35 mm

anti-aircraft gun Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

system. Additional 2 Chirons transferred according to a 2019 SIPRI small arms report. * : 54 KP-SAMs. First systems delivered in June 2024. * : In ROK Army service since 2005.

Failed contracts

Notes

References

External links

{{Modern South Korean Infantry Weapons Surface-to-air missiles of South Korea 21st-century surface-to-air missiles Post–Cold War weapons of South Korea Weapons and ammunition introduced in 2005 ADD research and development projects