Judging from the current world situation, the major military powers and powers above the blue star have developed or equipped their own three-generation main battle tanks, and some have even begun to develop fourth-generation main battle tanks, and the angular "boiled" tank shape has become the standard for the land overlords of the major countries. In addition, even a small peninsula country like South Korea dares to claim to have "independently developed" its own three-generation main battle tank. How could his northern brotherhood be so unbearable!
South Korea's K2 main battle tank
In the face of the continuous development of the "hostile brother" tank cause in the south and the scientific and technological tree that is gradually lagging behind the trend of the world, the DPRK will certainly not be left behind. No, in the military parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea on October 10, 2020, North Korea showed the outside world a number of self-developed advanced weapons and equipment, including "some tanks."
The CX military parade rarely adopted the mode of night parade, and the North Korean business card "spring step" that disappeared in the queue has become a topic of discussion among many netizens. What really interests the majority of military fans and netizens is a Democratic and cool North Korean tank that appears in the team of 10,000 people.
These new North Korean tanks undoubtedly make everyone shine, and even make people wonder, is this still the tank of the Korean proletarian world we know?
It should be known that the DPRK is a country that has long been subject to the embargo on weapons and equipment and military technology blockade by the international community, and all kinds of weapons and equipment have long lagged behind the trend of the world. Especially in the development of main battle tanks, it can be said that there is a huge gap with developed countries and other major military powers.
Previously, North Korea's most advanced tanks were only the "Tianmahu" series of tanks and the newly born "Pioneer" 915 tank. Among them, the "Pioneer Army" tank can be described as the best performing main battle tank in the Korean People's Army. But even so, the so-called strongest "pioneer" of the Korean Army is just a copycat imitation improved on the basis of using Soviet T-72 technology.
Pioneer 915 main battle tank
Moreover, the technological advancement of North Korea's own tank industry is limited, and there are insufficient military scientific researchers, so the quality of these two imitation Soviet-style tanks is self-evident, and the overseas reputation will naturally not be too high.
然而，在朝鲜阅兵式中展示的这一“新式”主战坦克，却一改此前人们对于朝鲜主战坦克性能水平低，外观土的印象。 If nothing else, just from the appearance, the turret of this "new" main battle tank displayed by North Korea this time looks very similar to the M1 series main battle tank of the United States, which can be described as "cooking" domineering! (Is North Korea going to cross the river in eagle sauce too?) ）
And we can see from the picture that although the tank sent by north Korea is still equipped with a twin anti-tank missile launcher attached to the outside of the turret, it cancels the external anti-aircraft missile launcher equipped with the previous tanks, and replaces it with an active protection system, and installs supporting interceptor launchers (as well as additional grille armor) in many places in the turret.
These are the standard equipment of the mainstream of western 3rd generation tanks! Could it be that North Korea has also begun to keep up with the trend of the world?
Of course, the small partners who have seen it have also discovered that the number of load wheels of this new tank unveiled by North Korea has further increased from the previous 6 pairs to 7 pairs, in addition, this new tank has also changed the design of the previous single-pin track and adopted a double-pin track with better load-bearing capacity. The power engine is still unknown.
In terms of armor, this new tank seems to adopt a tank armor structure that is different from the previous "sloppy" and "pioneer" imitation Of the Soviet T-62 design. Instead, it used a composite armor module more similar to the American M1A1, and speculation may have adopted a front-up composite armor similar to the American M1 series tanks or the French Leclerc.
In terms of artillery, it is not yet known. However, according to the previous development process of the "Pioneer" tank, it should also be known that the imitation 125 mm 2A26/46 tank gun, or the 2A 20-115 mm smoothbore gun, should also be used. Of course, the most eye-catching thing is the muzzle disturbance detection device similar to that of other Western main battle tanks installed next to the gun port, which may also indicate that North Korea has broken through the design barrier of tank fire control and aiming, and developed and adopted a stable image fire control with the gun following the scope. This is undoubtedly a major step forward in the design of North Korean tanks.
However, although this tank appears extremely gorgeous, because of its small size and insufficient exposed information, many military fans and netizens believe that this may be just a tank model of North Korea. (Limited to self-amusement within North Korea) But objectively speaking, whether this tank is true or false, and what the real performance is, its birth reflects the change of thinking on the North Korean tank design technology tree, and perhaps North Korean military researchers have begun to anticipate the importance of catching up with the world's leading trend, and the appearance of this tank is the best proof. As for whether North Korea can develop its own third-generation main battle tank in the future, we still look forward to it!