The South Korean K30 Biho (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

: 비호,

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 ...

: 飛虎; literally "Flying Tiger") twin 30 mm

self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon An anti-aircraft vehicle, also known as a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) or self-propelled air defense system (SPAD), is a mobile vehicle with a dedicated anti-aircraft capability. Specific weapon systems used include machine guns, ...

was developed to meet the operational requirements of the

Republic of Korea Armed Forces The Republic of Korea Armed Forces (), also known as the ROK Armed Forces, are the armed forces of South Korea. The ROK Armed Forces is one of the largest and most powerful standing armed forces in the world with a reported personnel strength of ...

for a highly mobile short range air defense system suited to the operational and terrain conditions of the Korean peninsula. It combines an electro-optically guided 30 mm gun system with a surveillance radar system on a

K200 The K200 KIFV (Korea Infantry Fighting Vehicle) is a South Korean armored personnel carrier, originally produced by Daewoo Heavy Industries as a domestic replacement for older armored personnel carriers, such as the M113, in front line servic ...

chassis. It supplements the K263A1 Chungung, a self-propelled 20 mm Vulcan system. The K30 is primarily built by Hanwha Defense.

History

The K30 was first announced as a project in 1983 with 600 personnel conducting research and around 10 billion won spent on R&D. In September 2001, the production of prototypes were done under Tong-il Heavy Industries before Doosan Infracore concluded a contract with Korea's Defense Acquisition Program in 2007. An initial order was made in 2002 to supply the K30. The approximately W500 billion (US$543 million) follow-up order was delivered to the South Korean military, starting in 2008. The K30 was included in the bid by India for a new SPAAG system in 2015 with tests conducted until 2017. HDS announced that India selected the K30 to modernize its air defense systems. There were reports that an unnamed competitor had threatened to interfere with the contract signing alongside pro-Russian elements in the Indian government due to "bias" in the selection process. In 2021, a wheeled variant of the K30 Biho, known as Sky Tiger ( ko, 천호 "Chunho",

: 天虎) anti-aircraft gun wheeled vehicle system (AAGW), entered service with the Republic of Korea Army. Sky Tiger features a modified K30 turret fitted to a 8×8 K808 armored personnel carrier and will replace the aging

M167 Vulcan The M167 Vulcan Air Defense System (VADS) is a towed, short-range United States Army anti-aircraft gun designed to protect forward area combat elements and rear area critical assets. It was also used to protect U.S. Air Force warplane airfields a ...

General Characteristics

A K30 Biho system consists of twin 30 mm guns, a TPS-830K surveillance and fire-control radar, an

electro-optical Electro–optics is a branch of electrical engineering, electronic engineering, materials science, and material physics involving components, electronic devices such as lasers, laser diodes, LEDs, waveguides, etc. which operate by the propaga ...

targeting system (EOTS), panoramic

periscope A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position. In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...

forward looking infrared Forward-looking infrared (FLIR) cameras, typically used on military and civilian aircraft, use a thermographic camera that senses infrared radiation. The sensors installed in forward-looking infrared cameras, as well as those of other thermal ...

system (FLIR),

laser rangefinder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by sending a laser pulse in ...

(LRF),

thermal sight A thermographic weapon sight, thermal imagery scope or thermal weapon sight is a Sight (device), sighting device combining a compact thermographic camera and an aiming reticle. They can be mounted on a variety of small arms as well as some heavier ...

, a TV camera, and a digital

fire-control system A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a ...

. The combined targeting system of EOTS, FLIR, and LRF has a targeting range of over . The TPS-830K radar can detect and track a -RCS target from a range of . The cannons have a cyclic rate of fire of 600 rpm and an effective anti-aircraft range of , and each is loaded with 300 rounds of ammunition. In December 2013,

DAPA DAPA may refer to: * Defense Acquisition Program Administration, an executive branch of the South Korean government * Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, a U.S. deferred action In United States administrative law, deferred action is an immigr ...

announced that the Biho had been integrated with the Shingung

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 to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

to increase its coverage to 7 km. Two pods each containing two missiles are mounted, one of each side of the turret. Design integration with the missiles was completed in 2014, and by October 2015 the system was in full-rate production. The upgraded vehicle was in service by late 2018. The TPS-830K radar of K30 is an

X-band The X band is the designation for a band of frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is rather indefinitely set at approxim ...

(8 to 12.5 GHz) surveillance and fire-control

pulse-Doppler radar A pulse-Doppler radar is a radar system that determines the range to a target using pulse-timing techniques, and uses the Doppler effect of the returned signal to determine the target object's velocity. It combines the features of pulse radars an ...

, specialized for use against low-flying aircraft. Its features include real-time early warning, multiple target detection, an integral L-band (1 to 2 GHz)

Identification Friend or Foe Identification, friend or foe (IFF) is an identification system designed for command and control. It uses a transponder that listens for an ''interrogation'' signal and then sends a ''response'' that identifies the broadcaster. IFF systems usual ...

(IFF) subsystem, pulse compression, frequency agility, and adaptive moving target indication as an anti-chaff measure. It supplies ballistic computation data to the digital fire-control system to direct the aim of the electro-optical targeting system, which then aligns the 30 mm guns with the target for accurate fire. The radar can be installed on a separate vehicle (usually a 5-ton six-wheeled truck with a self-towed generator unit) to serve as an independent surveillance platform for other short range air defense systems. The secondary FLIR system and laser rangefinder supplements the TPS-830K radar to provide additional targeting means in case the radar is rendered inoperative, or is turned off to retain the element of surprise against aircraft that are equipped with

radar warning receiver Radar warning receiver (RWR) systems detect the radio emissions of radar systems. Their primary purpose is to issue a warning when a radar signal that might be a threat is detected, like a fighter aircraft's fire control radar. The warning can th ...

s. The K30 adapts the chassis of the

infantry fighting vehicle, but has some differences. It has an extra roadwheel in its suspension and uses a D2840L engine instead of the D2848T engine of the K200, with an increase in engine power from 350 horsepower to 520 horsepower, necessary since the K30 weighs almost twice as much as the K200.

Allison Transmission Allison Transmission is an American manufacturer of commercial duty automatic transmissions and hybrid propulsion systems. Allison products are specified by over 250 vehicle manufacturers and are used in many market sectors including bus, refuse, ...

's X200-5K transmission is likewise replaced by

S&T Dynamics SNT Dynamics Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean weapons, windpower, auto parts and casting and machine tools manufacturer founded in 1959. Its heavy weapons equip most frontline units of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. History SNT Dynamics was ...

' HMPT500-3EK/4EK to accommodate the more powerful engine. The modified chassis largely retains the protection and amphibious capability of the original chassis.

Users

Current users

Failed bids

* – The system was shortlisted by

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

after it competed against the

Tunguska-M1 The 2K22 Tunguska (russian: 2К22 "Тунгуска") is a Soviet and now Russian tracked self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon armed with a surface-to-air gun and missile system. It is designed to provide day and night protection for infantry and ...

and

Pantsir-S1 The Pantsir (russian: Панцирь, translation="Carapace") missile system is a family of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile and anti-aircraft artillery systems. Starting with the Pantsir-S1 (russian: Панцирь-С1, NATO r ...

in Indian Army's Self Propelled Air Defence Gun Missile System (SPAD-GMS) program, and a total of 104 unit was ordered by

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in May 2019 as a part of a $2.6 billion deal, but the order was cancelled in September 2020 in favour of indigenously developed system under the

Atmanirbhar Bharat Atmanirbhar Bharat (Devanagari: ) which translates to 'self-reliant India', is a phrase the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and his government used and popularised in relation to the country's economic development plans. The phrase is an ...

initiative. Hybrid Biho has recently been recognized as the effective Anti-Drone system, and related about India's "SPAD-GMS" project.

References

External links

Biho – Air Defense Systems – Hanwha Defense

S&T Dynamics homepage

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Post–Cold War weapons of South Korea Self-propelled anti-aircraft weapons Armoured fighting vehicles of South Korea 30 mm artillery Military vehicles introduced in the 1990s