Source: WikipediaSouth Korea was considered the main enemy to be a neighbour from the north, with whom it had been since the Korean War in an uninterrupted state of war. Totalitarian North Korea, the only country with which the confederate neighbour bordered land, which at the expense of poorness of its own nation, spent sky-high amounts on reinforcements.
In the early 1970s, it was reported in the South that the Korean People's Army had a large T-62 number in a fight against which its own M48A5 would not have had much chance. However, since 1978 the Pattons have been upgraded to the M48A5K version, but it was realized that shortly the opponent from the north would receive a more modern T-72 Ural. Therefore, in Seoul, an eradicating decision was made to start the production of the primary tank of the next generation of its own construction. However, without the aid of abroad companies, Korean manufacture would not be able to make specified a complex structure from scratch.
Initially, a fresh tank was planned to be developed with the West German company Krauss Mafai. There was even a framework agreement to be signed, but it was the American side that utilized its position in relations with Korea and proposed the ROKIT project. In July 1975 a contract was signed with the American company General Dynamics (designer of the M1 Abrams tank), according to which the company outside the ocean will build a prototype of the fresh car. In December 1983, a fresh prototype, developed and built in the United States, was delivered to the peninsula. Later, 2 test tanks were built in Korea in 1984. Due to the fact that the vehicle was created in General Dynamics, it cannot be amazing that the form of a fresh Korean tank (called kind 88) is akin to the American M1 Abrams.
The series production of the TYP 88 tank began in 1985. A full of 1027 tanks of this kind were manufactured, all of which were produced in Hyundai. Vehicle production ended in 1998.
The Korean tank is clearly lighter than the first (M1), the full mass was 51.1 tons (M1 57.6 tons), which was the basic condition of the Koreans. An interesting plan was the suspension of the wheels of the fresh combat car. The most loaded utmost wheels (first, second and last) were suspended on hydropneumatic actuators. The third, 4th and 5th are based on classical transverse torsion rods. All hydro-pneumatic actuators were combined into 1 system, so that the tank's hull was able to tilt forward and backward. This obtained an angle of +/- 10 degrees of lifting and lowering the cannon. The main weaponry is 105mm furrowed cannon KM68A1, the same as in M1 Abrams, with a dimension of 52 calibers. A 7.62mm device weapon was coupled with the cannon. Additionally, a 7.62mm M60 firearm was placed on the tower, operated by the cargo holder and 12.7mm Browning M2HB commander.
The SKO was originally made up of akin devices from Hughes Aircraft and Kollmorgen Corporation, as in Abrams, but the second series utilized a newer device designed by Texas Instruments.
A German MTU mb 871 Ka501 engine with a power of 1200 hp (882 kW) was utilized to drive, after rejecting the American design. With the engine, the German SF LSG 3000 powertrain with hydrokinetic transmission and 4 forward and 2 reverse gears was besides coupled.
Officially, a fresh vehicle was designated K1 Rokit. The crew consists of 4 soldiers. It shortly turned out, however, that, as in the case of the American prototype, the main weapons no longer meet the requirements of the modern battlefield. Therefore, at the task level, the 120mm weapon is already provided, whose plan is based on the German-produced M256 cannon licence (German: Rh-M-120). The first production vehicle was completed in 1996, but entered service in the Korean army only in 2001. Tank production ended in 2010, after building 484 wagons. The tank was marked as K1A1 and in relation to K1 not only differs in the usage of a 120mm cannon with a dimension of 44 calibers, but besides an improved fire control strategy with the ability to fight in hunter-killer mode. However, the Koreans did not halt on this variant of the K1 tank, shortly the light of day saw the plan based on the elements of the latest K2 Panther. The upgrade was marked as K1A2 and it is planned to bring all K1A1 to this version by the end of 2022.
Despite the fact that K1A1 is considered a modern tank, it owned besides many components of abroad origin according to Koreans. The modern South Korean arms manufacture has already become dynamic adequate to decide to make a fresh tank with its own effort. It was decided to build an armored vehicle that declassifies all tanks not only North Korean, but besides Chinese constructions specified as kind 99 and kind 99A.
The improvement of the fresh structure was initiated in 1995, erstwhile the South Korean Defence improvement Agency (ADD) was tasked with developing a modern tank based on state-of-the-art home technologies. Construction started during the production of K1A1, which, due to the long-term improvement of this kind of construction, is simply a desirable factor. The first prototype was revealed in 2007. Since then, the tank has undergone a polygon test. After removing the detected faults, a contract was signed in 2014 for the production of the first 100 tanks named K2 Black Panther. In 2016, the first batch of 100 tanks was delivered, after which production in Hyundai Rotem continued. The South Korean army presently owns about 300 of these fresh tanks.
The K2 tank uses both modular composite armor (of course undisclosed type) as well as explosive reactive armor blocks (ERA). From 1995 to 1997, 33 T-80U tanks were purchased as part of the repayment of the debt inactive in russian times. The vehicle received a fresh tower, resembling the form utilized in the French Leclerc tank. The tower features a smooth-bore Hyundai WIA CN08 120 mm long 55 caliber cannon, which is simply a licensed version of the German weapon Rheinmetall 120 mm/L55. The tank is equipped with an automatic feeder, akin to that designed for the Leclerc tank, making the crew consists of 3 soldiers. Additionally, a dense K6 12.7mm device weapon (M2 Browning license) and coupled with 7.62mm device weapon were mounted on the tower. The vehicle has a very advanced fire control system, allowing to track and attack not only primary tanks, but besides low-flying helicopters. The maximum effective fire scope is up to 10 kilometres. In addition, its fire control strategy can automatically detect, track and shoot at visible vehicle size targets without any contribution from the operator. The SKO uses a Korean panoramic viewfinder (KCPS) and besides a native mark reflection device (KGPS).
The German MTU MT-883 ka501 power unit with 1500 hp, coupled with the German power transfer strategy RENK HSWL 295 TM 5, was utilized for the drive. However, the Koreans wanted to usage their own plan solutions for the fresh tank drive. Therefore, the Hyundai Doosan Infracore DV27K engine, besides with a capacity of 1500 hp, was already utilized in the second series, produced between 2019 and 2020. The second series besides uses the RENK HSWL 295 TM 5 system, while the 3rd series (54 pcs) already fitted a full Korean-Hyundai Doosan Infracore DV27K/Dynamika SNT EST15K. However, there were problems with the native power transfer strategy and the Korean squad was later replaced by the German RENK HSWL 295 TM.
The suspension uses the most modern semi-active hydropneumatic suspension. Each wheel can be individually controlled, so that K2 can thin in any direction. Hyundai Rotem besides collaborated in the construction of the Turkish ALTAY tank, the revised prototype of which was equipped with an illusion tower akin to the K2 Black Panther. besides upgraded K1A2 has many components of the K2 vehicle. In 2022 Poland concluded an first contract for the acquisition of 1000 K2 tanks, mostly in the Polishized version of K2 PL.
Text and graphics: Jarosław Janas
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