LIG Nex1's Poniard guided rocket set to transform coastal defense at KADEX 2024.
armyrecognition.com
Funny thing about Poniard is that it was originally a joint US-Kor development called LOGIR : Low-cOst Guided Imaging Rocket.
In the early 2000s ROKA was interested in capabilities that could be used to stop mass North Korean amphibious assault using their air-cushioned vessels at western coastline of South Korea and their islands in Yellow Sea, all the while US was looking for a cheap but effective solution against FACs(often suicide bombing FACs) due to their experience operating in the Middle East (esp. USS Cole incident). The history of this project actually starts as a USN development programme and later transitioned into joint, international programme with ROK.
I'm not exactly sure why, but as the development progressed, USN interest waned and soon dropped out of the programme. SoKor proceeded alone and created Poniard and a 130mm version which is used on the PKMR boats. Seeing how effective Ukrainian USVs were in attacking Russian Navy ships, I guess they have a renewed interest in something better than APKWS on maritime conditions. It's quite funny and a bit ironic how they (USN) came back to evaluate something they conceived, developed and ditched 10 years ago.
I'm not sure if they would be interested in importing the design though, despite good results in the FCT. Obviously it's a very simple design which anyone could come up with, but it might be cheaper to just license it from LiG without the hassle of funding a separte development programme. The reason they turned this into a joint development programme with the Koreans was because of the cost, afterall.
It's also already being used by the Saudis and UAE as a defence against Iranian FACs, which is another plus.
I remember obtaining a document about the US-Kor cooperation in LOGIR programme somewhere in my hard drive. I'll try to find it.
