TOW-2 Posted October 29, 2015 Share Posted October 29, 2015 Is that an IR or White-visible searchlight? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M48A5K Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 (edited) AN/VSS-3A can be both used as white-visible and IR mode, but you need an infrared filter for the later. Edited November 2, 2015 by M48A5K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M48A5K Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 Sheridans to South Korea - US offered thousand M551 to ROKA at a bargain price of $10k per vehicle in 1981, but it was eventually declined. It's quite funny to see the news article introducing the sheridan as both Anti-Air and Anti-Tank vehicle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JW Collins Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 Sheridans to South Korea - US offered thousand M551 to ROKA at a bargain price of $10k per vehicle in 1981, but it was eventually declined. It's quite funny to see the news article introducing the sheridan as both Anti-Air and Anti-Tank vehicle. Interesting. Did the RoK Army get a chance to evaluate any first-hand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M48A5K Posted November 10, 2015 Author Share Posted November 10, 2015 (edited) Interesting. Did the RoK Army get a chance to evaluate any first-hand? No. There was no need to do so. Chrysler Defense was developing ROKIT and we were upgrading M48 by our own, so Sheridans(in large numbers) were almost useless. Anyway, maybe it wasn't the first time for US to offer Sheridans to ROK. Our army was looking for replacement of phasing M113 in the mid 70s. M551 was planned for retirement at that time, so what we came up was to convert its chassis into personal carrier. This source states that it was proposed by US in 1977, but I'm not sure whether this is related to those introduced in Hunnicutt's "Sheridan". The proposal was soon rejected because "equipments that have been phased out or ceased production always produce problems, so it's not a good idea in the long term". Army decided to license produce M113A1/A2 instead, then turned the direction into developing its own. Edited November 11, 2015 by M48A5K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M48A5K Posted November 16, 2015 Author Share Posted November 16, 2015 KGPS installed on K1A1. Comprised of Eye-safe(Raman shifted Nd-YAG) LRF, 2nd generation thermal imager and day sight. Of course this thing is stabilized in 2-axis, with the medium error of 0.1 mrad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damian Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 It is kinda similiar in design to new sights mounted on newest M1 variants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvinb1nav Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 ROK Army M-47 circa 1996 being used as a static defense near the DMZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin-Phillips Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 I wonder if that M47 or others like it, still exist or if they've been replaced by more modern vehicles? Probably don't need the latest and greatest AFV for a static defense role really. Thanks for sharing the picture. The M47 is a favourite of mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M48A5K Posted November 16, 2015 Author Share Posted November 16, 2015 Some M47 have been scrapped and then replaced with a bit more modern M48A2C after their retirement in 2007. These vehicles are placed near the DMZ or coast of the northwest islands. A number of batteries are only guns from scrapped vehicles(like M36 in the 70s), but they are still being maintained. https://youtu.be/J9rux9i7GYg?t=1m26s BTW that sure is a nice pic. Never seen a clear one like that before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tankerwanabe Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Using armor as static defenses seems like a misuse of assets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin-Phillips Posted November 16, 2015 Share Posted November 16, 2015 Using armor as static defenses seems like a misuse of assets. Unless its a vehicle which cannot be moved under its own power (no engine, tracks removed, etc). However if it was a fully functioning tank, I agree unless its part of a network of pre-prepared fighting positions where tanks can move from one to another in the event of an attack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorka L. Martinez-Mezo Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 (edited) Even static, engineless tanks have provided a fair degree of protection for fixed assets for a long time. The German used this trick often and even developed a Panther turret based bunker during WWII and also the Soviets dug in old tanks to create instant bunkers/strong points both during and after WWII. Arab armies used a similar trick and this can also be done in case of need. For example, during the battle of Dien Bien Phu disabled M24s were used as strong points. Even during the next phase of the Vietnam war M24s were used for air base protection and as pillboxes once retired. The South Koreans seem to be taking advantage of the available assets using these old tanks as static defence pillboxes. Edited November 17, 2015 by Gorka L. Martinez-Mezo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M48A5K Posted December 11, 2015 Author Share Posted December 11, 2015 K2 Black Panther "Block 1" of 20th Mechanized Infantry Division. Currently exact number of fielded K2 are not known, but this post says that 12th Tank Battalion and 26th Tank Battalion received forty-something Block 1's each. Dunno what happened to original 13 Block 0's in 12th Tank bdn, but I guess those vehicles are moved to armor school or still being used there. Block 1 modification includes armor upgrade and some changes on turret. Originally these modifications should have been applied on K2A1 but somehow things have changed. There would be no additional change on its exterior until the K2A1, and modifications on Block 2's would be focused on internal stuffs. Pic above is Block 1 during the ADEX 2015. Two weld lines marked with yellow arrows aren't visible in the original Block 0's, and two bolts originally placed in the circle were removed. People here are guessing that additional armor blocks have been inserted to provide additional protection from frontal 60 degrees arc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damian Posted December 11, 2015 Share Posted December 11, 2015 Interesting, when we can expect K2A1's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M48A5K Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 (edited) Interesting, when we can expect K2A1's? Currently K2 is equipped with soft-kill APS only, and problems with hard-kill system are: 1. Components of hard-kill APS are installed where the storage boxes are located. Some storage boxes need to be reduced or deleted to fit the components inside the tank, then there are not enough space to carry all the stuffs needed. Solutions are to enlarge storage boxes by at least 13cm and add new ones.2. Efficiency. K2 was to install both soft/hard-kill APS, but trials using prototype vehicles resulted reduction of efficiency due to mutual interference between systems. Some even criticize it's a waste to fit ERA and soft/hard-kill APS in one vehicle. Plus adding hard-kill system results additional weight that can affect vehicle mobility.3. Our army is not ready to adopt the newly built system. Revising current tactics is inevitable so studies are being made to provide improvements.4. Need new/modified manuals, training aids, training/firing ranges, etc. Once these problems are solved and 2nd production batches are fielded, maybe we can expect K2 PIP upgrades that would eventually called as K2A1. But still dunno exactly when it will be. Edited December 13, 2015 by M48A5K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M48A5K Posted December 12, 2015 Author Share Posted December 12, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kadrun Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 Rumors rising. About a year ago, the worst Korea planned to retire M48A3K and T-80U. Now, entire M48 fleet (A3K, A5, A5K1, A5K2) will be out of service along with T-80U.If this really happen, the armed forces will only have about 1,700 3rd generation MBT, removing roughly 700 pieces from its fleet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJ Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 It's probably fine, North Korea isn't going to launch an invasion. And the K1s and K2s are much more capable than any North Korean tank. I'm guessing they will probably want more money available for high tech military R&D as well. They want to develop their own stealth fighter with some financial assistance with Indonesia. For a small country to launch a stealth fighter program.. ambitious to say the least, more of for show maybe. It's made lots of news as of late. South Koreans need to get a handle on their household debt and do it before it becomes demographic crunch time in about 10 years from now. The economy isn't growing fast anymore so growth can't keep up with growing household debt. And if the US interest rate goes up, it might cause interests rate in South Korea to go up as well which would make it more difficult to pay off the household debt. It could mean a weak won compared to the dollar which would mean Korean goods should become cheaper in the US market. However.. 30% of their exports go to China and just 12.3% go to the US and the trend towards China is likely to go up even more. I idly wonder perhaps up to 40% of exports going to China by the end of next year. So a weak won compared to the dollar probably won't help very much. They have very little public debt though so in any new rough times, the government can help avoid a breakdown of the economy. And even if Chinese growth goes slow, as long as it is still growing, China will be a very large market for Korean exports. Well anyway, in short, I don't think the old tanks are needed and is better spent elsewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corinthian Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 They want to develop their own stealth fighter with some financial assistance with Indonesia. For a small country to launch a stealth fighter program.. ambitious to say the least, more of for show maybe. It's made lots of news as of late. I have no doubt South Korea can do this. That country is really amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urbanoid Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 You mean there were some news about KF-X as of late? Because the cooperation agreement was signed already in 2010. Also, they recently chose KAI AND Lockheed Martin to do the job, what can potentially hurt their exports - US will have to agree to the sales. Also it looks like it won't be 'pure' 5th gen fighter, but still more stealthy than EF or Rafale. And I don't want to say it's not impressive, quite the contrary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJ Posted December 15, 2015 Share Posted December 15, 2015 You mean there were some news about KF-X as of late? Because the cooperation agreement was signed already in 2010. Also, they recently chose KAI AND Lockheed Martin to do the job, what can potentially hurt their exports - US will have to agree to the sales. Also it looks like it won't be 'pure' 5th gen fighter, but still more stealthy than EF or Rafale. And I don't want to say it's not impressive, quite the contrary.Some reading about it. F-35 tech transfers were critical. http://m.koreatimes.co.kr/phone/news/view.jsp?req_newsidx=192602 http://thediplomat.com/2015/10/watch-out-f-35-korea-may-have-an-ace-up-its-sleeve/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M48A5K Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 (edited) Some old news videos... Performance of the K1 '88 Tank' - September 18, 1987 39th National Armed Forces Day Parade in Seoul - October 1, 1987 Field maneuver during Team Spirit '90 - March 16, 1990 Beach Landing - March 9, 1993 River crossing operation - September 5, 1997 Edited December 28, 2015 by M48A5K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damian Posted December 27, 2015 Share Posted December 27, 2015 I can imagine that first official presentation of K1 made the Kims nervous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M48A5K Posted January 3, 2016 Author Share Posted January 3, 2016 Carousel-type autoloader developed during the concept research stage of K2 Black Panther, designed to fit 120mm unitary ammo. Side view (above) and control unit (below) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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