This is the K2 Black Panther. It is a new kind of tank made by both commerical Korean and national Korean industries. It is made both for defensive and economical purposes. Originally, Korea used K1 and K1A1 tanks. However, these tanks relied heavily on foreign made resources and therefore had problems when sold. To resolve this problem, Korea made the K2 tank which has 90% domestic products made by companies such as Rotem, Samsung Techwin and World Industries Ace Corporation.
The Black Panther has 1500 horsepower and can maintain up to 70km/h on road, and 48km/h on offroad. This tank can also accelerate from 0 to 32km/h within 7 seconds. It can also submerge up to 4.1m under water. The Black Panther fields an advanced suspension system, called the In-arm Suspension Unit (ISU). The ISU, which is installed on every boogie, the individual wheels, on the tracks and allows them to be individually controlled. Thus, the K2 will be able not only to "sit", "stand" and "kneel", but to "lean" towards a side or a corner as well. "Sitting" gives the tank a lower profile and offers better handling over roads. "Standing" gives the vehicle higher ground clearance and allows it to have better maneuverability over rough terrain. "Kneeling" increases the amount of angle that the tank's gun barrel can elevate and depress, which allows the tank to fire its main gun downhill and give it greater ability to engage low-flying aircraft. The new suspension unit also gives the tank an advantage when traveling on uneven terrain as the boogies can be adjusted on-the-fly to lessen vibration.
As for offensive capabilities, the K2's main armament is an indigenous L55 120 mm smoothbore gun, developed under license by ADD and manufactured by World Industries Ace Corporation. It also deploys a 12.7 mm K-6 heavy machine gun and a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun. The ammunition for the main gun is loaded in a 16-shell magazine, with a total ammunition capacity of 40. The autoloader enables the tank to fire up to 15 rounds per minute.The minimum range of the ammunition is 2 km, while the maximum range is 8 km. It can also provide effective indirect fire support against targets hidden behind obstacles and structures.
As for Defensive capabilities, the frontal armor has been proven to be effective at defeating the 120mm APFSDS round fired from the L55 gun. Explosive Reactive Armor blocks are also present, with the addition of Non-Explosive Reactive Armor planned for the K2 PIP version. Defense against incoming missiles is currently provided by a soft-kill anti-missile system. The K2 PIP will likely deploy a hard-kill anti-missile defense system when it is released within the next few years. The vehicle’s millimeter band RADAR system can double a MAWS. The vehicle’s computer in turn can triangulate incoming projectiles, immediately warn the vehicle crew and fire off VIRSS grenades, which can effectively block optical, infrared and RADAR signatures. Once the hard-kill AMS is installed, the RADAR system will also be responsible for tracking and targeting the incoming missiles for the AMS. The K2 also has a RADAR Warning Receiver and RADAR jammer. Four allbearing LASER warning receivers are also present to alert the crew should the vehicle become targeted, and the computer can also fire off VIRSS grenades in the direction that the beam is coming from. An automatic fire-suppression system is programmed to detect and put out any internal fires that may occur, and atmospheric sensors alert the crew if the tank enters a hazardous environment.
