AT-1K Raybolt: Difference between revisions

South Korean anti-tank guided missile

The AT-1K Raybolt (Korean: 현궁 “Hyeon-gung”,^[5] Hanja: 晛弓) is a South Korean man-portable third-generation anti-tank guided missile built by LIG Nex1. It has fire-and-forget capability using an infrared imaging seeker and has a tandem-warhead to defeat explosive reactive armor. The Raybolt has a top attack and direct attack modes.^[6][7] It is the first ATGM to be built by South Korea and entered mass production in June 2017.

The Raybolt is positioned by its manufacturer as a competitor and peer with the American FGM-148 Javelin, Israeli Spike-MR and Turkish OMTAS ATGMs.^[8]

The Raybolt was first shown publicly at the Indodefence 2014 exhibition.^[9]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/1/17/A_defense_quality_certification_testing_of_AT-1K_Raybolt_on_May_2017.webm/A_defense_quality_certification_testing_of_AT-1K_Raybolt_on_May_2017.webm.480p.vp9.webm

Development began in 2007 and began in earnest in 2010, as South Korea’s existing anti-tank guided missiles were reaching the end of their 25-year service life.^[10] LIG Nex1’s priorities during development were world-class performance, weight, export competitiveness through localization of core components, cost-efficiency, and reliability. The development was not completely smooth, and for the first five years there were several failures with “Captive Flight Tests”. In a retrospective on the development of the Raybolt, one engineer assessed the greatest challenge as quality assurance.^[11] On May 30, 2017, it successfully completed the quality certification test of Raybolt organized by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).^[12]

The Raybolt was developed to replace obsolete anti-tank weapons, such as recoilless rifles and TOW missiles.^[13] South Korea’s 1970s-vintage TOW missiles lacked tandem-warheads and would not be able to destroy modern North Korean tanks equipped with explosive reactive armor (ERA).^[13]

The Raybolt is produced by LIG Nex1 in cooperation with South Korea’s Agency for Defense Development (ADD), under the auspices of the DAPA.^[11] About 95% of the Raybolt is made in South Korea.^[14]

The Raybolt underwent successful test evaluations in Saudi Arabia in December 2013 and January 2014.^[11] The Raybolt contract is expected to be worth 1 trillion won through till 2023.^[14]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/d/d6/A_firing_demonstration_of_the_AT-1K_Raybolt_anti-tank_guided_missile.webm/A_firing_demonstration_of_the_AT-1K_Raybolt_anti-tank_guided_missile.webm.480p.vp9.webm

The Raybolt’s most notable feature is an imaging infrared seeker providing fire-and-forget capability. It also has a tandem-warhead and both direct attack and top attack modes. The Raybolt uses a smokeless propellant and can be fired from within a building. The Raybolt missile and Observation and Launch Unit (OLU) can either be vehicle-mounted or carried as a manpack by two men. There are also discussions to mount the Raybolt on helicopters. The OLU has day/night capability via a thermal sight.^[6][7][11] The missile uses a soft launch to escape the barrel before activating the main flight motor.^[10] It is scheduled to be acquired over the 2018–2022 timeframe.^[13]

The Raybolt system weight about 20 kg (44 lb),^[13] which its manufacturer describes as lighter than peers.^[8] The Raybolt’s range is 2.5^[15] or 3 km.^[14] The Raybolt’s HEAT tandem warhead can penetrate 900 mm of RHA beyond defeating ERA,^[16] which is described as “excellent performance” by DAPA.^[13]

The Raybolt has been marketed to India.^[17] Park Tae-sik, senior manager at LIG Nex1, also reports interest from South America.^[10]

The missile can be carried by a two-man crew or fitted to fire from vehicles. The South Korean Army uses an anti-tank version of the Kia Motors 4×4 Light Tactical Vehicle (LTV) called the K-153C; the roof is equipped with a launcher turret with two missiles ready to fire and four additional missiles carried inside the vehicle.^[15]

The Raybolt was delivered to the Republic of Korea Armed Forces in 2017.^[13] It will be used by the Korean Army and the ROK Marine Corps.^[11]

In 2018, the Raybolt was used in the Yemeni Civil War by the Royal Saudi Armed Forces against the Houthis.^[1][18]