- Yes
- No
1. Background of the proposal
A. The potential of a standalone tree
The United Korean Ground Forces Tech Tree suggestion has been passed to the devs.
In the Old forum, original suggestion has gained significant consent from the community.
From ‘Answering Your Questions’ in the WT Official channel, BVV_d mentioned in the affirmative a possibility of Korea being a new nation.
This suggestion, along with the United Korean Ground Forces proposal above, aims to form a independent(stand-alone) faction Korea, like Israel.
To solidify this, I felt the need of providing an aviation tech tree suggestion.
B. Why should it be implemented as a standalone tree?
There are 3 ways to implement South and North Korean vehicles in this game.
- a. As GE/Pack/BP/Event Premiums: Too much volume of vehicles to implement in this option. The only country with technical relevance to South Korea is the United States, but the United States already has more than enough event vehicles, which makes South Korean event vehicles rather redundant.
- b. As a sub-tree: Also too much volume of vehicles. Even though it’s implemented as a certain country’s subtree, the top rank tech tree would be overwhelmed by South Korean vehicles which might surpass the implemented nation’s vehicle timeline. North Korea causes a dilemma between the USSR or China, since the historical development of vehicles is not fully dependent on a single nation.
- c. As a standalone tree: The approach we are proposing in this thread.
Some might ask “Why not implement SK as a subtree for Japan? Japan is suffering from a lack of top tier vehicles!” However, this would cause problems from a historical point of view. For example, one demanding the addition of Egypt/Jordan/Saudi/Syria as a subtree to fill Israel’s lack of equipment could be problematic.
In addition, Japan does not share particular military/technical ties with South Korea. (Unlike South Africa in the UK and Finland in Sweden) So it is not a good idea to claim that Japan can have South Korean equipment without any basis. They just lie side by side on the map. Stona(the CM) is also well aware that Japan and Korea have no technical relevance with each other.
Besides, as explained earlier, top tier vehicle trees will be heavily affected by Korean vehicles in this case. People who claim false technological/political ties between Japan and Korea, do NOT address on this gameplay-related issue nor the fact that they have no technical nor alliance in real life at all. Some people invent lies about ties between Japan and Korea simply to get more vehicles in their main, but neither Koreans nor Japanese want that. As someone who has been interested in Japanese technology and has been grinding Japanese TTs, it would be distasteful to see only Korean-made vehicles technically disconnected from Japan in an update that was expecting new Japanese-made vehicles to come out. I’ve already seen many responses from the Japanese community that they don’t want Korean sub-trees for this reason.
Then, what upsides propel Korea as a standalone tree? To answer this question, I suggest the potential list of more possible vehicles to be added in the higher ranks. Unlike other nation candidates as a standalone tree, Korea is actively developing new indigenous vehicles for both ground and air at this very moment, which means that the tree yields more possible outcomes.
2. Tech tree
A. Overview & Structure
B. KPA Helicopters Branch
Korean People’s Army helicopters are consist of Mi-2 and 500E. However, there are only one missile-Susŏngp’o - has been proven mounted on a North Korean helicopter, and it is a clone of the 9K11 .
However, the 9K11’s performance is not very good, so North Korean helicopters armed with this missile should be compared to the Swedish Hkp 3C with Rb 53.
Mi-2
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500E
The North Korean MD 500 was brought in from 1983 to 1985 through a West German company called Delta Avia Fluggerate GmbH, a ghost company created by Americans and Germans bought into North Korea to smuggle MD 500 helicopters into North Korea.
It even invaded Korean airspace in the early 1980s, when it was imported, but was confirmed to be true by top secret information at the time. If there is a painting disguised as a South Korean MD 500, it will further accentuate the background of a North Korean helicopter intended to confuse South Korea.
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C. Light Helicopter Branch
UH-1H
It was operated by the ROK Navy and was equipped with 14 * 2.75-inch rockets (7 on each side) and illuminating flare launchers.
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SA.319B Allouette III
South Korea operated the SA.319B Allouette III, but I couldn’t find a reference to using an AS.12 with the anti-tank warhead (HEAT) version by South Korea. The only records I could find were the use of the anti-ship warhead (SAPHE) version. So I gave it a strikethrough.
Technically, there’s not much of a difference. But for the reasons mentioned above, I’m negative position about the implementation of this.
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500MD Defender
Recently this has been implemented in this game with Israeli vehicle, but it can be said that it is Korean origin. The Korean government invested the development cost when developing the improved 500MD -the 500MD Defender- giving the 500MD the ability to operate TOW. After Hughes Helicopters sold it to Israel, the South Korean government acquired a royalty of 20,000 dollars per unit from Hughes Helicopters.
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520MK Black Tiger
The 520MK was developed by Korean Air in jointly developed with MDHS(McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Systems) company in the U.S. based on 500MD, and has improved main rotor blades, more high-power engines and advanced navigation/communication equipment, radar warning systems, and hellfire missile operation capabilities. One prototype was built in Oct 1989.
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Light Armed Helicopter
Designed for replacing the Republic of Korea Army(RoKA)’s aged attack helicopter (500MD, AH-1S), the LAH(Light Armed Helicopter) Project is the one that aims to develop a cutting-edge armed helicopter suitable for the modern battlefield. Currently in mass production by Korea Aerospace Industries.
KAI signed a contract with DAPA on December 22, 2022 for the mass production of the LAH, with the first delivery scheduled for December 2024.
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D. Medium/Heavy Helicopter Branch
AH-1J (International)
The AH-1J International is an improved version manufactured based on the AH-1J Sea Cobra for export to Iran, and the biggest difference is its TOW operation capability. It was first exported to Iran, and has since been exported to several countries, including South Korea. Delivered in 1978.
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AH-1S (Early)
The ROK military introduced the AH-1S STEP III in four separate installments since 1988. Although the specifications are the same as the US military’s AH-1F, it was introduced as AH-1S because it was a project that started before the US military renamed AH-1S STEP III to AH-1F. (like JGSDF AH-1S)
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AH-1S (Late)
Later in 2014, in partnership with Orbital ATK, AAR-47 MAW/LWS and AN/ALE-47 chaff/flare dispenser were installed.
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AH-64E Apache Guardian
On May 25 2016, the first AH-64E arrived at Busan Port, and on Jan 9 2017, it was confirmed that the Army took over all of the AH-64E, and on Jan 27 2017, two battalions(36 AH-64E) were operationally deployed under the Army Aviation Operations Command. The Korean AH-64E uses the R1 version of the Hellfire and the H version of the Stinger.
E. Premiums
Mi-8, Mi-17
There are few technical differences. A distinguishing feature in appearance is the tail rotor, with the Mi-8 on the left and the Mi-17 on the right.
It would be nice to sell the Mi-17 as a Golden Eagle and get the Mi-8 (white color painting) as an event.
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AH-1S (C-NITE)
Until 1994, there was no night combat capability other than the night vision goggles that the pilots were directly equipped with, so there were great difficulties in night operations. However, in 1994, C-NITE thermal imaging sighting equipment was introduced as item urgently required project and installed on some aircraft (24 units) to secure night combat capability.
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3. References
https://www.jcs.mil.kr/mbshome/mbs/jcs2/ebook/jcsbook/index.html
https://www.koreaaero.com/KO/data_file/BROCHURE/2021_KAI_brochure_ENG_210528.pdf
https://www.koreaaero.com/EN/Business/LAH.aspx
https://youtu.be/G0zFW3G1_Zo (DAPA Official Channel)
http://www.koreascience.kr/article/JAKO199141548244488.pdf
http://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO199841548283139.pdf
https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO200041847897821.pdf
https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO200141548512331.pdf
https://www.koreaaero.com/KO/upload_images/prCenter/7/7회_김기정.pdf
https://kr.img.news.koreanair.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/1권-통사.pdf
https://kookbang.dema.mil.kr/newsWeb/20140522/4/BBSMSTR_000000010023/view.do
https://kookbang.dema.mil.kr/newsWeb/20181031/9/BBSMSTR_000000100010/view.do
https://www.mbn.co.kr/news/politics/1286100
https://www.hankyung.com/news/article/1996101701111
https://www.seoul.co.kr/news/newsView.php?id=19961019010002
https://www.sedaily.com/NewsView/1HQ5T7GD5T
https://mobile.newsis.com/view.html?ar_id=NISX20121213_0011685757
http://www.economytalk.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=30289
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/13_aug2017-birth-of-the-cobra-180963930/
https://www.dsca.mil/press-media/major-arms-sales/republic-korea-agm-114r1-hellfire-missiles
http://www.defensetoday.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=2491
https://m.news.nate.com/view/20220118n15725
https://kookbang.dema.mil.kr/newsWeb/20210423/1/BBSMSTR_000000100164/view.do
https://hisntd.com/eng/business/data/Gun-Artillery_Sytems.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CA1Wqo9B3QU (SNT Motiv Official Channel)
Peoples, K. (1988). Bell Ah-1 Cobra variants (Vol. 4, Ser. Aerofax Datagraph). Aerofax.
Howard M. Hensel. (2020). Air Power in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. Routledge
United States Federal Aviation Administration. (2018). Order 7360.1D Aircraft Type Designators
European Union Aviation Safety Agency. (2020. 8). Assignment Of Aircraft Types To RECAT-EU Wake Turbulence Categories.
