K1
General characteristics
Crew	4
Length	9.67 m (9.71m for K1A1)
Width	3.60 m
Height	2.25 m
Weight	51.1 tons (53.2 tons for K1A1)
Armour and armament
Armour	Composite
Main armament	K1 -- KM68A1 105 mm K1A1 -- KM256 120mm
Secondary armament	12.7 mm antiaircraft machine gun 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun
Mobility
Power plant	8-cyl. water-cooled diesel MTU 871 Ka-501 1200 hp (890 kW)
Suspension	Torsion bar & hydropneumatic (hybrid suspension)
Road speed	65 km/h
Power/weight	23.4 hp / tonne (22.5 hp / tonne for K1A1)
Range	500 km

The K1 is a main battle tank in use with the South Korean ground forces. It is manufactured by Hyundai Precision of South Korea (being designed originally by US company General Dynamics). Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (900x675, 424 KB) Summary Description: A Korean army K-1 tank. ... Military vehicles are commonly armoured to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets or shells, protecting the soldiers inside from enemy fire. ... The Royal Ordnance L7 is the basic model of Britains most successful tank gun. ... An M1 Abrams tank firing the Rheinmetall L44 fitted with a hoffman device. ... Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (1858-1913), inventor of the diesel engine. ... The US M1A1 Abrams tank is a typical modern main battle tank. ... Hyundai is a South Korean group of companies founded by Chung Joo-young in 1947 as a construction company and was once South Koreas biggest conglomerate company (Jaebul). ... General Dynamics (NYSE: GD) is a defense conglomerate formed by mergers and divestitures, and as of 2005 it is the sixth largest defense contractor in the world[1]. The company has changed markedly in the post-Cold War era of defense consolidation. ...

Name

The K1 is often dubbed Type 88 by foreigners, which is actually incorrect. The correct name for the tank is 88 Tank (Hangul: 88전차). Type 88 would actually translate into 88식, which is completely different as the South Korean military applies the American method of marking their equipment, such as M#A#, and not use the Type-## designations to refer to their equipment. It was introduced to the Republic of Korea Army (ROKA) in 1987, but is tagged as 88 to honor the 1988 Summer Olympics that took place in Seoul, Korea. Korean (, see below) is the official language of both North and South Korea. ... The Republic of Korea Army (ROK Army, ROKA, hangul: 대한민국 육군; hanja: 大韓民國 陸軍) is by far the largest of the military branches, with over 560,000 effectives as of 2004. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were held in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. ...

K1 overview

K1 is a fifty-two ton tank with a 105 mm main gun, sophisticated fire control system and composite armour. Because of the similarity of its outer appearance to that of the US Army's M1 Abrams tank, the American troops stationed in South Korea dubbed the tank "Baby Abrams". Other than the size, the K1 is different from its American counterpart in several ways: the fire control system is similar to that of the German Leopard tank; the powerplant is a German MTU diesel engine that is produced under license domestically; and the armor lacks the uranium plating inserts that characterize the M1A1 tanks. A fire-control system is a computer, often mechanical, which is designed to assist a weapon system in hitting its target. ... Composite armour is a type of vehicle armour consisting of layers of different material such as metals, plastics, ceramics or air. ... The M1 Abrams main battle tank is the principal combat tank of the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps, with three main versions being deployed starting in 1980: the M1, M1A1, and M1A2. ... The Leopard (or Leopard 1) is a German designed and produced main battle tank that first entered service in 1965 and was used as the main battle tank for Germany, several other European countries, Australia, Canada, Brazil and Chile. ...

Some time after the K1 first went into production, it has been confirmed through defectors from North Korea who crossed the border into China that the North Korean Army personnel show extreme fear towards the tank, since the K1 outclasses all of the tanks that the North Koreans have in their inventory. This led the North Koreans to upgrade their T-62 (see Ch'onma-Ho) in hopes of creating an effective countermeasure against the K1. Despite the effort, the North Koreans have not came up with an effective means of countering the K1 threat, and gave the K1 and the K1A1 battle tanks the nickname of "Monster Tank" (괴물전차). The T-62 Soviet main battle tank is a further development of the T-54/55 series. ... The Chonma-ho (ChosŏngÅ­l: 천마호; Hanja: 天馬虎), which means flying horse tiger or Pegasus, main battle tank is North Koreas secretive indigenous tank design. ...

K1A1 overview

The K1A1 is similar to its predecessor, with the exception of a larger M256 120 mm main gun (the US licensed product of German Rheinmetall L44 120 mm smoothbore gun) with vastly improved penetration power. The new version also includes an improved fire-control system featuring thermal image KGPS (Korean Gunner's Primary Sight), KCPS (Korean Commander's Panoramic Sight), and a new 32-bit ballistic computer along with improved survivability for the engine. The FCS gives the tank a 90% or greater chance of hitting its target while on the move, with the highest score it achieved topped off at 98%. The improved armor is roughly equivalent to that of M1A1 without its depleted uranium plating inserts. The LASER range-finder is CO2-based. An M1 Abrams tank firing the Rheinmetall L44 fitted with a hoffman device. ... An M1 Abrams tank firing the Rheinmetall L44 fitted with a hoffman device. ... The KCPS, or Korean Commanders Panoramic Sight, is an advanced optical system for the K1A1 main battle tanks in use by the Republic of Korea Army. ... A laser range-finder is a device which uses a laser beam in order to determine the distance to a reflective object. ...

The KCPS specifications for K1A1 is as follows; The KCPS, or Korean Commanders Panoramic Sight, is an advanced optical system for the K1A1 main battle tanks in use by the Republic of Korea Army. ...

• Zoom: 3x / 10x (day & night)
• Vertical scan angle (the amount of angle which the optics can move up and down): +/- 35˚
• Horizontal scan angle (the amount of angle which the optics can turn): 360˚
• Gunner's alternate sight zoom: 8x

The carbon dioxide LASER range-finder's specification is as follows; Carbon dioxide is a chemical compound composed of one carbon and two oxygen atoms. ...

• Range: 200 ~ 7,990 m
• Daytime magnification: 1x / 10x
• Nighttime magnification: 3x / 10x

The K1A1 can easily be distinguished from the K1 by the shape of the gun, location of the co-axial machinegun, the shape of the commander's panoramic sight, and the overall angular shape of the turret. (K1A1 has more curved surfaces than K1) The 120 mm smoothbore gun of K1A1 is thicker than the K1's 105 mm rifled gun and has a thicker thermal sleeve third of the way from the base of the gun. The co-axial machinegun on K1A1 is located at a much higher point compared to the K1. K1A1 also features somewhat cone-shaped day/night KGPS compared to day-only sight of K1 that has plain, tube-like appearance to it.

General overview

The tank can "sit" and "stand", as well as "kneel", through the usage of its extensive suspension system that allows each of the road wheels, or "bogies", to be adjusted in height. "Sitting" gives the tank lower profile and offers better handling over roads. "Standing" allows the tank better maneuverability over rough terrain. "Kneeling" increases the angle that the tank's gun barrel can elevate and depress, which allows the tank to fire its main gun downhill—something that very few tanks can do—and gives it better ability to engage low-flying aircraft. Their mobility allows them to climb slopes as steep as 60 degrees. The suspension system is not completely without its own flaws, as it reportedly breaks down often from extremely intensive usage.

Both the K1 and K1A1 have two M60 machine guns, one pintle mounted M60D and one co-axial M60E2. It also uses the K6 heavy machine gun on a pintle mount. The M60 (formally the United States Machine Gun, Caliber 7. ... Produced by Seil Heavy Industries of South Korea, the K6 12. ...

Korean Army K1A1 tank

Korean Army K1 MBT proto type displayed by War Memorial of Korea

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1000x750, 358 KB) Summary Description: A Korean army K1A1 tank. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (1000x750, 358 KB) Summary Description: A Korean army K1A1 tank. ... K1A1 korean MBT File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... K1A1 korean MBT File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...

The future of K1

The K1 series will remain in service with the ROK Army well into the future, as the ROK Army is in the process of replacing older American M47 & M48 MBTs with the newer K1A1 and the upcoming K2 Black Panther. The ROK Army plans to field approximately 1,027 K1 and 484 K1A1 MBTs in the future as reserves once the Black Panther project reaches its peak. The M46, M47, M48 and M60 Patton were the U.S armys principal main battle tanks of the Cold War, with models in service from the late 1940s to the 1990s. ... // XK-2, or eXperimental K2, (KNMBT, or Korean New Main Battle Tank) Black Panther (Hangul: 차기전차 XK-2 흑표) is the Republic of Koreas recently revealed prototype for a next-generation main battle tank. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

88 Tank K1

• Type 88 K1 Main Battle Tank at GlobalSecurity.org
• K1A1 Main Battle Tank at GlobalSecurity.org
• Photos at GlobalSecurity.org
• K1A1 Photos and Walk Arounds at Prime Portal

Modern tanks
Ariete | Arjun | Challenger 2 | Ch'onma-ho | K1 | Leclerc | Leopard 2 | M1 Abrams | / MBT 2000 M-84 | Merkava | PT-91 Twardy | T-80 | T-84 | T-90 | Type 90 | Type 96 | Type 99 | Zulfigar