323 (14.5mm)

ChieftainWarrior · January 31, 2024, 8:03pm

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North Korea sub-tree in China
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323 (14.5mm)

Unknown official name

Brief History
North Korea has a surprisingly long history of tank and AFV production, with some of their most recent developments being very interesting. During the Korean War, and for a couple decades after, North Korea relied on Soviet hand-me-downs, namely T-34s and their derivatives, T-55s, etc. In the 70s, the DPRK started development of their first MBTs based on their copy of the T-62 (Ch’ŏnma), which have continually been upgraded to this day. They haven’t just built MBTs, however. They have a number of other AFVs, such as SPGs and tank destroyers.Alongside these vehicles, North Korea has developed a number of APCs.

In 1973, the 323 was spotted for the first time (sometimes incorrectly referred to as VTT-323 in the west). The 323 is a derivative of the Chinese YW 531A, which the DPRK bought and operated, with the biggest changes being the addition of a turret, one extra road-wheel, and amphibious capabilities. This suggestion focuses on a variant with a ZPU-4 anti-aircraft gun platform.

Note on nomenclature and variants
There appear to be 2 variants of this vehicle, but any concrete information (or images) is extremely hard to come by. From what I’ve read, there is one variant which is simply the ZPU-4 on the regular 323 chassis. This does not appear to have been given a designation by the US DoD (M+Year).

The second variant seems to be widened (and possible up-armoured), with the same gun setup. Some sources say this is called either M1983 or M1984 by the US. For clarity, I’m just going to refer to them as 323 (ZPU-4).

I do not think both variants need to be separated into individual posts, due to the massive lack of information about specifics, so I’m including them both in here, especially as they would play practically identically.

Characteristics
The 323 (14.5mm) removes the turret from the original 323’s APC variant and replaces it with a quad 14.5mm KPVT mount (known as the ZPU-4). This is very similar to that of the Soviet BTR-152D added recently. The vehicle has no secondary armament.

The chassis appears unmodified on the original variant. The second variant has a widened hull (possibly to make way for more crew), and some sources also it was up-armoured. However, there’s no noticeable difference in them otherwise. Otherwise, the armour is probably very similar (if not identical) to the YW 531, being ~14mm all around.

The 323’s engine is believed to be the same as that on the Chinese YW 531 – 320hp. The US estimated the top speed of the 323 at 80km/h, but it is much more likely to be around 65km/h.

Conclusion
This vehicle would be a fun low-tier SPAA for a North Korean sub-tree. It’s essentially a tracked BTR-152D, which has slightly better armour and the increased mobility in tight spaces that comes with having tracks over wheels, so I think the same BR of 3.7 is good, or alternatively slightly higher at 4.0.

Specifications
Armament