Members of the Romanian Land Forces' 348th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion fired the Chiron MANPADS for the first time at the Capu Midia Training Range at the beginning of March. (Romanian Land Forces)
Members of Romania's 348th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion fired the South Korean Chiron manportable air-defence system (MANPADS) for the first time at the Capu Midia Training Range this week, the Romanian Land Forces announced on its website on 3 March. The service said that this represented an important step in developing Romanian defence capabilities and preparing for future missions.
Romania received the Chiron MANPADS in June 2024, according to Janes Land Warfare Platforms: Artillery & Air Defence . The system was developed by the South Korean state-controlled Agency for Defence Development and LG Innotek (now LIG Nex1). The Republic of Korea Army (RoKA) signed an initial contract worth more than USD100 million in October 2005 to launch serial production of the system, which entered service with the RoKA later the same year. Indonesia became the second Chiron customer in 2014.
Chiron is a tripod-mounted MANPADS designed to be used by infantry or to be mounted on land, sea, or air platforms. The missile's two-stage solid rocket propellant motor gives it a maximum range of 7 km and allows it to reach an altitude of 3.5 km. It has a two-colour infrared homing guidance system and is armed with a high-explosive blast-fragmentation warhead with an impact and proximity fuze, with the latter activating 1.5 m away from its target.
For information on another air-defence system being introduced into Romanian service, please seeRomania orders more Patriot air-defence systems .
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