Well as usual when I start looking into something I uncover more issues of which in this case are minor compared to many others we've encountered out here. The issues are with
SOUTH KOREA with their more recent armor.
I'll set it up in my normal format later as I sense the
"clock is ticking" (And NO I DON'T HAVE ANY INSIDE INFORMATION OF ANYTHING TO COME.)
So Don don't have a "
heart attack" (Or for that matter anyone that follows my posts.) at my "briefness" if you will.
First, I get it concerning
K1-88 UNITS 021-023, though I think two can be combined into one unit,
maybe.
Second, I would strongly recommend changing the name of the
KIA1 UNIT 024 to either
K1A1/A2 or K1A1/2. I highlighted the first one as I'm seeing it described as such in more of the refs. The
K1A2 was another improved model but, and I agree with many of the refs. that the improvements were "minor in nature" as to
not warrant a separate unit. We did the same with the
Russian T-72B3/B4 as I recall about three years back.
Third, Is there a reason the
K2 UNIT 025 is not armed with the
KSTAM munition? They have them and this tank was designed to fire it. Some people are calling it an
ATGW, I
STRONGLY disagree, it's designed to be fired at a higher elevation and the refs are describing/or comparing it to firing a
mortar or artillery. Further the
description of KSTAM much more reminds me of the
STRIX the very effective
SWEDISH (?) 120mm Anti-Tank top attack mortar round. The picture of it even resembles the STRIX and looks more like a "mortar" round in the below ref. The below is taken from the same ref. and is a
composite of other refs.
"Korean Smart Top-Attack Munition (KSTAM), sort of fire-and-forget semi-autonomous ammunition that operates at 2–8 km (1.2–5.0 mi), launched in a mortar-type high trajectory."
https://weaponews.com/weapons/653540...tle-tanks.html
Also concerning the
K2, I'm trying to confirm
whether or not South Korea has already started to field "
KAPS" (APS) on those tanks. And yes, I see you equipped it as such. For everyone else
KAPS was one of the improvements slated for the
K2 PIP.
Fourth, The
T-80ROK UNIT 029 and
BMP-3ROK UNIT 061 were retired last year. I thought I posted this last summer or early fall. But for the sake of argument based on the dates of the refs. being in the
March/April 2019 timeframe, I believe
JUN 2019 would work well or
DEC 2019 if you want to be more conservative about the
END date.
https://www.strategypage.com/htmw/ht.../20190406.aspx
Fifth, From what little is out there to include
HYUNDAI/ROTEM (Which doesn't even mention the
K2 PIP.) website, I believe a better
START date for
K2 PIP UNIT 033 would be
JAN 2023.
Most every ref. talks about the
K2 PIP being a "
few years away". The
first para says it all.
https://www.reddit.com/r/GlobalPower...ement_program/
But I'll be more optimistic about the
K2 PIP based on the
political situation on the peninsula and the world in general.
Regards,
Pat
POSTSCRIPT: Added on 2/6/2020 1155 Here's a short
STRIX video I posted when we addressed this weapon a few years back. Again
KSTAM (Though improved.) uses basically the same technology with also radar technology.
STRIX has long been rumored to use
either a Video or Radar to
supplement the IR seeker.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhd1d2sW_3I
https://saabgroup.com/media/news-pre...ld-leadership/