Designed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST), the Kestrel is Taiwan’s first indigenous design for an anti-tank rocket launcher. It is a disposable, single-shot weapon manufactured with two different projectiles; a rocket with a shaped charge High Explosive Anti-Tank (HEAT) warhead for use against armored vehicles, and a larger rocket with a High Explosive Squash Head (HESH) warhead for use mainly against structures.
The primary munition for the Kestrel is a HEAT round with a shaped charge warhead. It will reportedly penetrate 400 mm (some sources claim only 350 mm) of rolled homogenous armor equivalent, which is exceptional for a 67 mm munition. The Kestrel is effective against most armored vehicles in service today. However it is not capable of penetrating the frontal armor of the latest Chinese tanks, such as the Type 96 and Type 99, and it is questionable against even the flank armor of these tanks. It is also unclear if the Kestrel’s HEAT round has a precursor charge to defeat explosive reactive armor.
