US-made Gatling guns on North Korean patrol boats

: Posted On Thursday, 30 June 2016 09:58

Naval Forces News - North Korea

US-made Gatling guns on North Korean patrol boats

By Stelios Kanavakis - Senior Defence Analyst
Many questions are raised from the integration of US-made Gatling guns on North Korea’s patrol boats. According to the South Korean Yonhap News Agency’s military sources, North Korea has been replacing its legacy weapons with the rotating heavy machine guns.

Many questions are raised from the integration of US-made Gatling guns on North Korea’s patrol boats. According to the South Korean Yonhap News Agency’s military sources, North Korea has been replacing its legacy weapons with the rotating heavy machine guns.

GECAL GAU-19 gatling gun manufactured by General Dynamics. (Illustration purpose only)

The same military source said to Yonhap that if the Gatling machine guns are integrated on all of the estimated 380 border patrol boats, that would be an additional threat to the South Korean Navy, which currently uses 30mm remotely operated guns.

The issue has raised serious concerns to the US and South Korean officials who try to track down how those weapons ended up to the North Korean Navy.

Yonhap News Agency also reported that another military source mentioned that the North Korean Navy will use stealth technology on its littoral patrol vessels, in order to counter-balance the use of stealth technology by South Korean Navy patrol boats.