This plan, however, fell apart when Rheinmetall halted the research due to the lack of foreseeable threats that their latest gun, the 120 mm / L55, could not defeat for several years into the future, which also led to the K2's gun being changed to the L55 along with the considerations for ammunition capacity. The original requirement for the K2's main gun was the experimental 140 mm smoothbore gun from Rheinmetall.

The unmanned turret design was scrapped during the design phase, and the manned turret version completely took over. There were two major designs that were underway, one being fitted with manned turret and another being fitted with unmanned turret.

The vehicle is manufactured by Rotem, with Samsung Techwin and World Industries Ace Corporation manufacturing and supplying various parts and equipment of the vehicle. More than 90% of the vehicle's design is domestic. Over the course of next 11 years and spending approximately USD$230m, the design was finally branded as production-ready. Production approval came nearly a year after Poland purchased 180 K2 tanks from South Korea under a $5.7 billion deal that also included 212 K9A1 self-propelled howitzers.įollowing the deal, other countries have also reportedly shown interest in the tank, including Slovakia and Norway.Although K1 and K1A1 were more than adequate to counter opposing North Korean tanks, work was started in 1995 to develop and field a newer main battle tank with heavy emphasis on domestic technique to further modernize the South Korean military and allow the vehicle to enter export market without pressure from outside.ĪDD was given the task of developing a new main battle tank with state-of-the-art technologies. “By acquiring additional K2 tanks through this project, (we) expect them to greatly contribute to enhancing the maneuver corps’ capabilities to carry out offensive maneuver warfare,” Yonhap News Agency quoted the country’s Defense Project Promotion Committee as stating. The Hyundai Rotem tank is intended to replace South Korea’s aging M48 Patton and K1 main battle tank. South Korea has already ordered and received around 260 K2s during the first three production cycles. This is the fourth round of mass production of the indigenous tank, in service since 2014 and manufactured by Hyundai Rotem. The number of tanks to be built under the five-year project was not disclosed. South Korea has approved the mass production of additional K2 Black Panther main battle tanks for an estimated 1.94 trillion won ($1.46 billion).

K2 main battle tank