page_title: Tanks of South Korea
section_title: Modern South Korean armor: present
hierarchical_section_title: Tanks of South Korea / Modern South Korean armor: present
caption_attribution_description: English: 040326-F-0193C-020 Pohang Beach, Korea (Mar. 26, 2004) - A Republic of Korea Type 88 K1 Main Battle Tank drives off a U.S. Navy Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) throughout a simulated amphibious attack on Pohang Beach, Korea, during Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, and Integration, and Foal Eagle 2004. The exercise is an annual U.S. and South Korea exercise tailored to evaluate command capabilities to receive U.S. Forces from outside Korea while teaching, coaching, and mentoring exercise participants. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. D. Myles Cullen. (RELEASED)
context_page_description: The history and development of the tank in the South Korea spans the period from their adoption after World War II with the foundation of the South Korean Army, into the Cold War and the present. Over this period Korea has moved from being an operator of United States designed and produced tanks to being the designer and manufacturer of first class tanks in its own right
context_section_description: By the 1970s, the Republic of Korea was desperately in need of additional main battle tanks. M4A3E8 "Easy Eight" variant of Sherman tanks, dating back to World War II, had been retired from service by the Republic of Korea Army, and the backbone of the South Korean armor was formed up of M47 and M48 Patton tanks. Meanwhile, North Koreans had both numerical and technological advantages over the South Korean armor with their T-62 main battle tanks.
  At first, attempts were made to obtain the United States' M60A1 Pattons, but they ended in failure. It was deemed that, even if the M60A1s were obtainable, there would not be enough of them to give the South Korean forces a significant advantage over existing North Korean tanks. A number of other plans were also devised, such as upgrading the existing M48 Pattons to the M48A3 and A5 standard, as well as obtaining a license to domestically produce Germany's Leopard 1 main battle tank. Only the upgrades to the Pattons were carried out, with the results being the M48A3K and M48A5K, while producing Leopard 1s was deemed counterproductive so the Koreans made plans to domestically produce main battle tanks that were comparable to the newer generation of main battle tanks. The winning design was based on the XM1, the prototype of M1 Abrams, by Chrysler Defense, the company which was later sold to General Dynamics and renamed General Dynamics Land Systems. Soon afterwards, South Korean officials were dispatched to General Dynamics Land Systems for supervision of the design, which would spawn the XK1. The XK1 retained the XM1's M68E1 105 mm rifled main gun, which would also be domestically produced under license with the designation KM68, as well as a fire control system by Hughes Aircraft Company and the Nd:YAG laser rangefinder. One of the major differences was the addition of tank commander's independent panoramic sights on the XK1, which was missing on XM1, giving the XK1 the capability to utilize the fire-control system (FCS) more effectively, notably by engaging in hunter-killer tactics, which the M1 series could not do until the introduction of the M1A2. The tank commander's panoramic sights were not, however, equipped with light amplification or thermal optics, which led to the tank commander having to rely on personal night vision goggles to operate his sights, while the gunner's sights were equipped with a thermal observation device, which meant that the XK1 had superior sensors until the introduction of the M1A2.
  XK1 tanks are also equipped with a hybrid suspension system consisting of hydropneumatic system on road wheels 1, 2 and 6, while 3, 4 and 5 are equipped with torsion bars, a feature not present on the XM1, granting the XK1 greater stability and ability to elevate and depress the main gun nearly twice as much as tanks equipped with torsion bars alone (+20 to -9.7 degrees for the XK1 versus +10 to -5 for the XM1).
  The development of the vehicle was completed in 1983, with a prototype being delivered to the South Korean government in the same year. After the production of approximately 450 K1s, the Gunner's Primary Sights (GPS) designed by Hughes was replaced by the Gunner's Primary Tank Thermal Sights (GPTTS) by Texas Instruments. The new system also replaced the Nd:YAG laser rangefinder used in the Hughes unit with a CO2-based one, which has proven to be safer to the users' eyes, although having less effective range than the former in foul weather. While the exact composition of the armor has still not been released, it has been confirmed that K1 is equipped with composite Chobham armour.
  South Korea was given 33 T-80U and 2 T-80UK tanks to pay Russian debts incurred during the days of the Soviet Union. The tanks came in three batches; the first consisted of six T-80Us in 1996, followed by 27 T-80Us in 1997, and finally two T-80UKs in 2005.
  Today the South Korean army has 2,500 tanks in operation, including the K1A1 and K2 Black Panther, which form the backbone of the South Korean army's mechanized armor and infantry forces. A sizable arsenal of many artillery systems,
caption: A Korean K1 88 Main Battle Tank.
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