Head of Ukrainian army intelligence Lieutenant Normal Kyrylo Budanov has reported that the Korean Individuals’s Army is making ready to dispatch fifty to 1 hundred fight automobiles and their crews to assist the continuing Russian warfare effort within the Ukrainain theatre, together with each the Chonma-2 essential battle tank and the BTR-80 armoured personnel service. North Korea has already exported a variety of automobiles to Russia, together with ballistic missile launch automobiles, anti-tank automobiles, air defence techniques, and BTR-80s. The Chonma-2, nevertheless, would signify a marked escalation within the Korean Individuals’s Army’s involvement within the theatre. Whereas North Korea has exported essential battle tanks up to now, together with to be used within the Iran-Iraq Struggle, the deployment of domestically constructed tanks alongside their crews is an unprecedented improvement. Budanov famous that this would supply the Korean Individuals’s Army with expertise in large-scale trendy warfare, stressing that solely three international locations at present possess such operational data on an prolonged frontline and in a battle that mobilised virtually all obtainable army means, specifically Russia, Ukraine and North Korea.
North Korean tank designs have been earlier than the 2020s thought-about nicely behind the innovative, with the service entry of the Chonma-2 across the starting of the brand new decade marking a transformative change within the standing of the nation’s defence sector within the discipline, as very vital advances have been being made throughout areas of defence manufacturing. The tank class is predicted to have a definite benefit over the big majority of armoured automobiles deployed by either side, together with benefitting from an lively safety system – a subsystem that no Ukrainian tanks discipline and which a small variety of Russian tanks started to combine solely from late 2024. Such techniques use radars to constantly monitor their surrounding environments for incoming threats, and when detecting incoming projectiles observe them robotically, calculate their trajectories, and deploy protecting munitions to intercept and destroy them – thus stopping them from impacting the tank. North Korea’s lively safety system was first seen in use in footage launched in July 2023. The combination of the system displays the broader degree of sophistication of the brand new North Korean automobile.
The Chonma-2 would be the solely clear sheet post-Chilly Struggle essential battle tank design used within the Ukrainain theatre, with Russian, Ukrainian and NATO tanks all being variants or derivatives of Chilly Struggle period designs. All lively Russian and Ukrainain designs are variants or derivatives of the T-54 and T-64 that entered service within the Forties and Sixties respectively, in distinction to North Korea which, like its neighbours China, Japan and South Korea, has continued to develop clear sheet new designs. The Chonma-2 integrates thermal sights for each the gunner and for the commander, whereas hearth controls embody a display screen with a number of buttons that seem like a battle administration system with superior positioning options – one thing few tank lessons on the earth have. The tank has been confirmed to have entry to a few separate sorts of rounds, specifically armour piercing fin stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS), excessive explosive anti tank (HEAT), and Excessive Explosive Fragmentation rounds, with the APFSDS spherical being trendy design with a wonderful size to diameter ratio indicating a really excessive penetrative functionality. Higher size signifies a extra structurally environment friendly sabot design permitting it to defeat higher line of sight armour depth.
Total the Chonma-2 essential nicely be essentially the most succesful class of essential battle tank deployed in opposition to Ukraine, with its standing in opposition to essentially the most succesful Russian tanks such because the T-90M and T-80BVM remaining unsure. There stays a big chance that the a lot newer tank design might certainly outperform its Russian counterparts, with North Korean armaments having ceaselessly had higher performances than their counterparts in Russian service. The Bulsae-4 anti-tank missile and KN-23B ballistic missile system are among the many notable examples. The Chonma-2, particularly the improved Tianma-2 variant, was confirmed in Could to be in giant scale manufacturing at a brand new facility, with a big chance remaining that the design will probably be modified primarily based on expertise gained within the Ukrainian theatre.
Ought to the tank present succesful, there stays a big chance that vital export orders could also be positioned to equip the Russian Army, as regardless of progress in rising tank manufacturing, the service remains to be shedding tanks far quicker than it may possibly at present replenish them. This has resulted in an more and more crucial depletion of Soviet period tanks stockpiles. Such exports might be a significant boon for North Korea’s tank trade, producing doubtlessly profitable revenues and curiosity from extra purchasers additional afield.
