- Yes
- No
- North Korea sub-tree in China
- United Korea tree
- Other
- I said no
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 (conventional and ATGMs). They also have more support-oriented vehicles, including a number of indigenous APCs. Their first truly indigenous one is this, the M1992. It was first seen in 1992 (hence the name), but was likely developed before. The vehicle has some similarities to the Soviet BRDM-1, but appears to be otherwise be a unique design.
Characteristics
The M1992 has 3 known configurations, but the focus of this suggestion is the rarest, the air defence variant, which has only been seen once (in the museum in the image). This vehicle retains the slightly lowered hull of the M1992 MLRS (thus no longer fitting passengers, as in the APC variant) to accommodate 4 Igla MANPADs at the rear. The Igla is a decently strong missile in game already, although not yet on any ground vehicles. This vehicle likely carries 4 more in the hull, although this is not confirmed.
Unlike the base APC variant, this version does not mount a grenade launcher at the front, having solely MANPADs.
The vehicle itself is a 4x4 design and visually similar to the BRDM-1, as mentioned earlier. The vehicle has potentially amphibious capabilities, judging by the shape. If so, it would be propelled by wheels only, leaving it slower than amphibious vehicles with water jets. The vehicle has a frontally mounted engine, although details of it are non existent. One source indicates it might be a diesel engine, but details are, again, not available.
Armour is likely non-existent, providing protection from only small-arms fire, likely 10mm or below. The vehicle has 2 main crew (commander and driver).
This variant also has what appears to be smoke grenade launchers on the side of the vehicle, which is a nice quality-of-life feature, and strangely, not present on the other M1992s.
Conclusion
The M1992 (9K38) would be a decent high-tier SPAA in a North Korean sub-tree. It has no radar, and only Igla MANPADs, so I think a BR of roughly 9.0 would be good.
Specifications
Armament
- 4x 9K38 Igla
- Mass 10 kg
- Guidance IR
- Aspect All-aspects
- Lock range (rear-aspect) 6 km
- Lock range (all-aspect) 6 km
- ECCM Yes
- Launch range 5 km
- Maximum speed 1.7 M
- Maximum overload 10 G
- Missile guidance time 14 secs
- Explosive mass 530 g TNTe
Armour
- Hull
- Front
- Unknown, thin
- Sides
- Unknown, thin
- Rear
- Unknown, thin
- Front
Mobility
- Speed
- Unknown, possibly ~90km/h
- Weight
- Unknown, possibly ~6t
- Engine power
- Unknown, possibly diesel engine. Likely >100hp
Images
No other images known.
Sources