Product Code Database
The hwacha or hwach'a () was a multiple rocket launcher and an organ gun of similar design which were developed in fifteenth century Korea. It resembled a wooden cart with a launch pad attached, and it had up to 200 tiny singijeon arrows propelled by rockets. The former variant fired one or two hundred rocket-powered arrows, while the latter fired several dozen iron-headed arrows or bolts out of gun barrels. The term was used to refer to other or other cart-based artillery in later periods, such as that developed by Byeon Yijung in the 1590s.
These weapons were notably deployed in the defense of the Korean Peninsula against the Japanese when they Imjin War. Some East Asian historians believe this technological breakthrough, alongside the turtle ship in the mid-16th century, had a distinctive effect during the war.
Hwachas appear in Korean museums, national parks, and popular culture today.
Local production did not begin until Ch'oe Musŏn, having acquired the methods for purifying potassium nitrate from visiting Chinese merchants, accomplished it between 1374 and 1376. A government office for developing gunpowder and firearms was established in 1377, with Ch'oe appointed its head. Several weapons were developed here, including hand cannons and a series of rockets, in particular the juhwa.
Another variant was the Mangam Hwacha, a boxed cart with large faces of a dokkaebi painted on all three sides. Armed with forty seungja-chongtongs with fourteen in the front and thirteen on the left and right sides, it required two soldiers to operate, one firing and the other reloading. This weapon was capable of firing 600 bullets, with each barrel holding 15 shots.
The ammunition, similar to used by the ancient Chinese, consisted of a long arrow with the addition of a gunpowder-filled paper tube attached to the shaft just below the head. Approximately 100 projectiles were loaded and launched in one volley, and had a range of up to .
One variant had 5 rows of 10 gun barrels in the launchpad, each of which could fire a bundle of four arrow-like projectiles.
The back side of the hwacha featured two parallel arms that allowed the operator to push and pull the machine and a vertical strip designed for in-line attacks or ground-sentry positions.
Wood pivots and iron axles usually fastened the wagon-like wheels. To reduce friction between the wheels and the axles, tar oil was used.
The Korean army included siege engineers and blacksmiths to repair the hwacha in case of damage due to poor road conditions, bad weather, or battle.
The holes in the hwacha's launching array ranged in diameter from , which allowed thin Gungdo to be fired and also admitted sajeonchongtong class igniters placed in the back side of the shooting board.
Singijeon-class projectiles were small arrows designed by Korean siege engineers specifically for hwachas use. Called so (), or "small", they possessed a pouch of black powder attached in the bottom near to the fletching section. Besides the singijeon-class projectiles, hwacha could fire 100 steel-tipped rockets.
At sea, maneuvers were slightly different and more complex because the operator would need to find a proper and stable place to fire. Some hwacha operators preferred to be on the rowers' deck, where they could shoot from the windows, while others preferred to be on the main deck to shoot at the enemy ships' sails. These kind of manoeuvres were particularly seen on Korean Panokseon .
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