Taiwan orders 10,000 Kestrel Anti-Armor Weapons
The Taiwanese government has ordered 10,000 Kestrel anti-armour weapons. The Kestrel is a locally designed and produced 67mm weapon made by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST).
Kestrel is a disposable, shoulder fired weapon which uses a rocket to propel its warhead. Development of Kestrel was finalised by NCSIST in the early 2010s and the system entered service with the Republic of China’s Army in 2022, replacing the 66mm M72 LAW. 5,000 missiles were ordered initially in September 2022, with a second order for just under 6,000 placed in August of this year. The sizeable order has reduced the unit cost of the new weapons with a reported price of 100,000 New Taiwan dollars ($3,115) per unit.
Taiwan’s Marine Corps were the first branch to adopt the weapon in 2015, with the Taiwanese military police ordering just under 500 Kestrels in 2018. Some have also been procured by Taiwan’s Coast Guard. NCSIST describe the Kestrel’s role as providing “capabilities against armored vehicles and fortifications to the light and support forces.” Kestrel will compliment the 112mm APILAS anti-armor weapons and FGM-148 anti-tank guided missiles which currently make up the ROC Army’s primary infantry anti-armour weapons.
Kestrel is available in two variants. One capable of firing either a high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) and the other firing a high explosive squad head (HESH) warhead. The HEAT variant has a range of 400m while the shorter range HESH round, better suited to anti-structure work, has a maximum range of 150m. According to NCSIST the HEAT round can penetrate 350mm of armor while the HESH round can penetrate up to 600mm of reinforced concrete.
Weighing in at 5kg the Kestrel can be seen as an analog to the AT4, though with a warhead diameter closer to the M72. The weapon has a fiber reinforced polymer body and a fixed length of 1.1m but has a folding pistol grip and stock piece to aid carriage. It also has a folding optical sight and the ability to mount other optics of night vision devices. NCSIST are to complete delivery of the Kestrels to the ROC Army by late 2025.