K1A1 tank

The K1A1 is a remodeled and upgraded version of K1, the main battle tank of the South Korean army. It looks similar to the K1 tank. The first test model, made by Hyundai, was shown to the public on April 3, 1996. It went through performance tests for two years from 1999 to 2001. Production began on October 13, 2001. It is planned to produce 484 of them by 2010. The K2 Black Panther is planned to replace it after that.

The reason for the upgrade was to increase the fire power of the K1. The main 105mm gun was replaced with the M256 120mm gun. The M256 122mm has 1.5 times the range and 1.7 times stronger fire power than the older gun. It also changed its armor, called Korean Special Armor Plate (KSAP), which greatly improved its side shield.

The K1A1 weighs about 53.2 tons and can seat four people. Besides the main gun, there are two kinds of machine guns, 12.7mm K6 and two 7.62mm M60s as secondary arms. Guns and a turret are able to move independently of the main body. This improves its accuracy rate.

The K1A1 is designed for Korea’s mountainous land. It provides a smoother ride as well as higher speed driving on a sloping hill, compared to the K1. The maximum speed is around 65km/h on the level ground, 40km/h on the mountains. Its fire control system involves KCPS (Korea Commander’s Panoramic Sight), KGPS (Korean Gunners Primary Sight), digital ballistic calculator, and some minor factors. The notable fact is that the development of this system was mostly done by Korean technology.