- Yes
- No
- North Korea sub-tree in China
- United Korea tech tree
- Other
- I said no
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. However, 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 (conventional and ATGMs), which this vehicle is. This vehicle, as far as I’ve found, has no official name (not been released anyway), so 8x8 ATGM APC will have to do.
The vehicle is a derivative of North Korea’s 8x8 APC, which is thought to be (highly) inspired by their Soviet BTR-80s, although some features may have been taken from their older BTR-60PBs. This vehicle has been called M-2010 and Chunma-D in a few sources, although this is almost certainly not the official name. The ATGM variant of this APC was first spotted in 2020, during a parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Worker’s Party of Korea.
Characteristics
The ATGM variant of this APC mounts a new turret carrying 5 ATGM launchers. These are the Bulsae-5 ATGMs, the North Korean name for the Russian 9M133 Kornet. I’m unaware specifically of what variant it is, but regardless, it is definitely a tandem HEAT warhead with at least 1000-1200mm penetration (in-game the BMP-2M has the base variant of this ATGM, with 1200mm penetration). The vehicle has no secondary armament.
This specific variant of the APC appears to have bolt-on add-on armour across the whole vehicle, likely providing a decent level of protection against HMGs, although to what extent is unknown. The vehicle also has some smoke grenades on the front hull, as well as what I think are Laser Warning Receivers on either side of the turret.
Otherwise, nothing else is known of the vehicle. But we have seen it firing, so we know it does at least work.
Specifications
Armament
- Bulsae-5 (9M133 Kornet)
- 1000-1200mm penetration
- Tandem HEAT, SACLOS
- Possibly fire-on-move capabilities, like the BMP-2M
- 5x ATGMs in turret, likely at least 5x more in the hull
- NVDs/thermals
- 1PN79M-3 sight (or domestic equivalent/copy);
Armour
- Hull
- Front
- Unknown, likely similar to BTR-80A (12mm) + extra unknown thickness
- Sides
- Unknown, likely similar to BTR-80A (8mm) + extra unknown thickness
- Rear
- Unknown, likely similar to BTR-80A (6mm) + extra unknown thickness
- Front
- Turret
- Front
- Unknown
- Sides
- Unknown
- Rear
- Unknown
- Front
Mobility
- Speed
- ~ +90/-14km/h
- Weight
- Unknown, likely similar to BTR-80A (14.6t) + extra weight of add-on armour
- Engine power
- 260hp
Other
- Smoke grenades
- 2x Laser Warning Receivers
Images
Sources
Spoiler
North Korean M-2012 8x8 APC derived from BTR-80
North Korea Showed Off New Missiles, Armor, Weapons in October Parade - Business Insider
North Korean parade equipment counters conventional wisdom
https://frontierindia.com/bad-news-for-k2-black-panther-north-koreas-new-bulsae-5-anti-tank-missile-can-easily-defeat-its-armour/
https://bemil.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2022/02/17/2022021701906.html
