South Korea's New XK-2 Main Battle Tank

[attitude]

http://www.irandefence.net/gallery/data/503/tank_XK-2_South-Korea_Black_panther_004.jpg

[AlbaThug]

this tank looks a bit like the german leopard 2a4

[genjurooo]

this tank looks a bit like the german leopard 2a4
no. it looks way better :).

it's more like the leclerc than is to the leopard.

btw, i think this is the best tank in the world.

[TAMIL_REBEL]

the backside look a bit m1a2
lol all the tanks gang banged leo2 :P

[bobjones2]

the tank itself is a very evolutionary tank incorporating a lot of tank ideas from all the best existing tanks...

Gun is supposed to be indigenuous but is essentially same as the Rheinmetal gun found in all the top tanks like abrahms...

Autoloader is almost same as LeClerc.
Armor and projectile defense system is probably an evolution of T-80U.
FCS and stuff like that is probably an evolution of american technology...
Suspension lets the tank sit... makes the tank easier to shoot downhill... same system found in previous Korean tanks as well as japanese tanks...

Tank is light at 55 tons, can ford rivers at pretty deep levels... but the tank is still prototype... The Turks will probably purchase technology from ROK... not sure if they will go with their own tank using those tech or just build variant.

With the latest gizmos, the tank is the most expensive tank in the world by far... we'll see how it goes...

[Sajjad]

It looks to be a development of the Abrams tank. The chassis look about identical...the turret with modifications but still you can see the resemblance of the Abrams big time. The barrel also resembles Abrams very much.

[bobjones2]

Hi Sajjad,

i think it's funny you mention that. K2 is Korea's next generation tank, so I assume K1 must have influenced it. K1 of course is called baby m1, because a lot of the same guys who built the M1 helped build the K1.

If you scour around the internet though, mostly people say it looks like a Leclerc. Some say Leo...

It's really a fusion of all these tank concepts, so i guess that's why people can see elements of different tanks from it.

Merkava Mk4 is probably the only tank this tank didn't take concepts from out of all the elite tanks out there.

[Sajjad]

Hi Sajjad,

Merkava Mk4 is probably the only tank this tank didn't take concepts from out of all the elite tanks out there.

Hello brother. It doesn't seem to have any Russian tank elements either...

[bobjones2]

sajjad,

I really know nothing about military but what i do know is that ROK purchased a measly around 80 or so T-80U tanks from Russia. The reason they bought them are many folds, but some people suspect it was to study the tank and get ideas for the K2 project. I think it's suppose to have a SHOTRA type of system, so I assume that must be the Russian influence. or at least the ERA might be the russian contribution...

I donno really...

[@anti#boz@]

similar the old one!!! upgraded???

[bobjones2]

not an upgrade... very different from K1. The upgraded tank is K1A1, which looks same as K1, but gun is probably different looking... i can't really tell the difference in looks, but more astute tank watchers probably can.

K2 is completely new. I'm just saying concepts and technologies might be incorpoated into the design. At least on paper, K2 will destroy K1A1.

[Caucesco]

it doesnt look very good,i prefer the leo,
but the koreans cant do anything on them self,like their t50 golden eagle,it was a compresed f16

[bobjones2]

too early to say... The reason why i come to this forum is to see what the Turk reaction is. South Korean media/government claims this is the best thing since sliced bread. I want to know what an objective 3rd party would say. I think the Turks had a first hand experience looking at this tank, and it appears that it won the bid to develop Turkey's next generation tank---although i don't know if that is set in stone. If Turkey does wind up producing these tanks in 3 years, I'll know this tank is the real deal. Another interesting thing to note, if Turkey buys this tank, then ROK and Turkey are essentially strategic partners--almost like an ally--i wouldn't be surprised if Turkey also chose ROK helicopter carrier. Maybe even the T-50 golden eagle at a future time.

The T-50 is a supersonic trainer and is not meant to replace F-16. It looks like an F-16 for a good reason. It's primarily designed to train next generation fighter pilots--and it's probably focused more on American planes. You don't buy T-50 to engage enemy fighters although the A-50 variants can carry a considerably large array of weapons systems. There are currently talks in Korea to further develope this into a F-50 and try to replace the aging F-4s. There are also some talks about developing a Korean next generation stealth fighter--which is highly unlikely with a measly budget of supposed 12 billion dollars. F-50 is more likely...