The K136 Kooryong (

Romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

: K136 'Gu-ryong';

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

: K136 '구룡';

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

: K136 '九龍') is a South Korean 36 extended

rocket artillery Rocket artillery is artillery that uses rocket explosives as the projectile. The use of rocket artillery dates back to medieval China where devices such as fire arrows were used (albeit mostly as a psychological weapon). Fire arrows were also us ...

system that was deployed in 1981.

History

The K136 Kooryong 36 extended

multiple rocket launcher A multiple rocket launcher (MRL) or multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) is a type of rocket artillery system that contains multiple launchers which are fixed to a single platform, and shoots its rocket ordnance in a fashion similar to a volle ...

(MRL) began research and development in 1973 at the

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

(ADD) as a means of responding to the

BM-21 The BM-21 "Grad" (russian: БМ-21 "Град", lit= hail) is a self-propelled 122 mm multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union. The system and the M-21OF rocket were first developed in the early 1960s, and saw their first comba ...

122 mm multiple rocket launcher possessed by

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

, and was performance tested in 1978, and the initial model K136 was deployed in 1981. Later, the K136A1 improved model, which added a stainless steel launch tube and hydraulic system, was deployed to the

South Korean Army The Republic of Korea Army (ROKA; ko, 대한민국 육군; Hanja: 大韓民國陸軍; RR: ''Daehanminguk Yuk-gun''), also known as the ROK Army or South Korean Army, is the army of South Korea, responsible for ground-based warfare. It is the l ...

from 1987 to 1991, and the K33 and K38 rockets with ranges of 36 km and 30 km were developed in 1988. Called Kooryong, the weapons system was designed, tested, and manufactured in Korea for field artillery and artillery.

Daewoo Heavy Industries Doosan Enerbility Co., Ltd., formerly known as Doosan Heavy Industries, is a heavy industrial company headquartered in Changwon, South Korea. It was established in 1962. Its business includes manufacturing and construction of nuclear power p ...

is in charge of production and the rocket was developed by

Hanwha , former_name = Korea Explosives Group , type = Public , traded_as = , industry = Conglomorate , founded = , founder = Kim Chong-hee , hq_location_city = Seoul , hq_location_country = South Korea , area_served = Global , key_people = ...

Possible transfer to the Philippine Army

The

Philippine Army The Philippine Army (PA) ( Tagalog: ''Hukbong Katihan ng Pilipinas''; in literal English: ''Army of the Ground of the Philippines''; in literal Spanish: ''Ejército de la Tierra de la Filipinas'') is the main, oldest and largest branch of the ...

has negotiated with the South Korean government for the transfer of its MLRS launchers for the newly activated MLRS Battalions of the Army Artillery Regiment. Three batteries of K136 Kooryong MLRS from South Korea were expected to be delivered in 2020. Delivery of the units has been delayed several times.

Design

The

has 36 tubes and fires K30 130 mm and K33 131 mm rockets. There are also improved high explosive K37 rockets for better performance and pre-fragmented HE K37 rockets with warheads containing 16,000 steel balls. The launcher is carried on a KM809AL 6x6 truck.

Operators

Current operators

* : About 150 units were built.

Future operators

* : Four batteries worth of units are expected to be delivered with three batteries to be established under the Philippine Army and one under the Philippine Marine Corps.

References

{{Commons category, K136 Self-propelled artillery of South Korea Wheeled self-propelled rocket launchers Salvo weapons Multiple rocket launchers Military vehicles introduced in the 1980s