The K21 is among the best in its class.
Although it suffered some childhood sickness, this tracked armoured infantry fighting vehicle
has recovered and now offers better firepower and mobility than its many rivals in the market,
which led Australia to choose the AS21 Redback variant.
As the Weapon Detective, we are now investigating the K21, the soundest option for many countries.
The K21 is a tracked armoured infantry fighting vehicle designed for the military requirements
of the Republic of Korea Army, ROKA in short, which prioritizes mobility and firepower rather
than ballistic protection.
Still, it offers high survivability.
On the other hand, its AS21 Redback variant has more similar features to the latest infantry
fighting vehicle in the West.
In the early 1980s, South Korea initiated the Korean Infantry Fighting Vehicle Programme.
The fruit of this project, the K200, was basically a copy of the U.S. AIFV.
Yet, the ROKA equipped the vehicle with a 12.7mm machine gun rather than an autocannon.
So, its combat capability against enemy armour was not higher than a standard M113 armoured
personnel carrier.
Since the Korean People's Army had armoured vehicles with only low ballistic protection
and firepower in those years, it was enough for the ROKA's requirements.
However, when the U.S.S.R. collapsed in 1991, the newly established Russian Federation began
to sell the latest Soviet equipment to overcome the economic crisis.
Russia even gave some BMP-3s to South Korea to pay off its debt.
It meant more capable armoured vehicles might be available for North Korea.
So, in 1999, South Korea launched the Korea Next-generation Infantry Fighting Vehicle
Project.
The study phase was completed in 2004, and Seoul awarded Doosan DST, now Hanwha Defense
Systems, with a contract to develop the new vehicle, initially designated as K300 or XK21
KNIFV.
More than 85 per cent of the vehicle was designed domestically.
The company delivered three prototypes within a year.
After the trials were completed, South Korea ordered the first batch of vehicles, now called
K21, in 2008.
The ROKA took the first K21 into the service in 2009.
Yet, while conducting a river crossing exercise on December 9, 2009, an accident occurred
in which the engine stopped due to flooding, and the crew had to evacuate.
On July 29, 2010, another K21 sank during the training.
After investigation, some design flaws were discovered, which would be corrected later.
Similarly, some problems were found in the sensors in 2012, which were eliminated gradually.
The K21's hull is made of the 2519 aluminium alloy.
Some parts of the vehicle, like hatches, are of the S2 glass fibre.
This preference reduced the K21's weight while increasing the power/weight ratio, mobility,
speed, and payload capacity.
The front arches of the hull and turret are resistant to 30mm armour-piercing discarding
sabot munition.
The vehicle also has all-round protection against 14.5mm armour-piercing incendiary
rounds and 20mm fragment-simulating projectiles.
The K21's roof is resistant to 152mm artillery shell splinters.
The fuel tank has a self-sealing feature.
The survivability is enhanced by combined laser warning/UV sensors.
The vehicle has an automatic fire suppression system for crew and engine compartments and
can be operated in CBRN environment.
The K21's battle management system improves their situational awareness, increasing survivability
further.
On the other hand, there is no official information about the special measurements of the vehicle
against the landmines.
Considering its combat weight, it seems that the K21 has lesser landmine protection compared
to the latest Western counterparts.
The K21 has a fully stabilized two-person turret.
The commander sits on the left while the gunner is on the right.
These two crew members have the same Samsung Thales-made sight, which includes a thermal
viewer and a laser rangefinder.
Thus, the gunner can switch to the commander's sight in case of malfunction.
Also, the commander can take control of the turret and gun from the gunner depending on
the tactical situation, which gives the vehicle hunter-killer engagement capability.
The S&T Dynamics-made 40mm K40 cannon is a locally improved version of the Bofors 40mm
L/70.
Thanks to the advanced fire-control system and gun stabilizer, the gun can engage moving
targets accurately while the K21 is on the move.
Its rate of fire is 300 rounds per minute.
On the other hand, the K21 carries 240 40mm munition.
The double-fed automatic loading system holds 24 rounds.
There are other ready-to-load 24 40mm rounds in the rear part of the turret basket's floor.
The carousel-type magazine at the bottom of the turret basket contains 80 pieces of ammunition,
which can be directly transferred to the automatic loader when necessary.
The remaining reserve ammunition is located under the commander's seat.
The empty cases are ejected from over the roof's front right.
The 40mm K237 armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot-tracer munition can penetrate
up to 220 millimetre-thick armour.
The 40mm K236 MMFA programmable munition is the licensed production variant of Bofors
3P.
It can be fired in several modes, including proximity, air burst, armour-piercing and
fragmentation, configured by the fire control system before firing.
The K236 MMFA's pre-fragmented warhead contains 1,100 tungsten balls with a diameter of 3
millimetres.
The gun is also effective against low-flying aerial targets.
The K21's network-centric warfare-capable battle management system, including GPS, inertial
navigation system and built-in diagnostics, also increases combat capability dramatically.
The driver, who sits on the front left of the hull and controls the vehicle via a T-bar,
has a large display showing engine data.
The footage of the rear camera for reverse driving is also displayed on this screen.
There is a forward-looking infrared camera to the left of the driver's hatch and a CCD
camera next to the right headlight.
The K21 has a semi-active in-arm suspension unit also used on the K2 Black Panther main
battle tank.
On the other hand, the vehicle cannot change its ground clearance like the K2.
This suspension unit helps to reduce overall weight while increasing mobility.
The output of a standard diesel engine decreases by about 10 per cent for every 1,000 metres
of altitude.
Yet, the Korean Peninsula is mountainous.
So, the K21's engine is fitted with a turbocharger, which reduces the output loss to 2 per cent
for every 1,000 metres.
The vehicle has a continuously variable transmission.
Unlike conventional transmissions, it provides a limited number of gear ratios in fixed steps,
which allows the engine to operate at a constant angular velocity while the vehicle moves at
varying speeds.
Thanks to its pontoon system, the K21 is amphibious with a water speed of 7 kilometres per hour.
The K21 has a three-person crew consisting of a commander, gunner and driver and can
carry nine infantry.
The vehicle has a length of 6.9 metres, a width of 3.4 metres, and a height of 2.6 metres.
Its combat weight is 25.6 tons.
The 750-horsepower Doosan- D2840LXE turbocharged diesel engine provides a road speed of 70
kilometres per hour.
Its range is 500 kilometres.
The K21 has one 40 mm K20 cannon and one 7.62mm K6 coaxial machine gun.
South Korea is now working on an improved version of the K21, called the K21 PIP.
The new variant will include an active protection suite and hard-kill anti-missile system.
It will also be fitted with the LIG Nex1 AT-1K Raybolt third-generation anti-tank guided
missile.
This fire-and-forget capable missile has an infrared imaging seeker guidance system.
Thanks to its tandem warhead, the Raybolt can penetrate 900-millimetre-thick armour
supported with explosive reactive armour plates.
It has top attack and direct attack modes and a range of 2,500 metres.
The K21 PIP will also be equipped with an 840-horsepower engine.
The recovery/repair variant of the K21 will have the same engine as the K21 PIP.
In 2013, South Korea unveiled the K21's medium tank version with the XC-8 turret, which can
be fitted with a 105mm or 120mm gun.
One year later, the K21-105, another medium-tank version of the K21 fitted with a Cockerill
CT-CV 105HP turret was unveiled.
Even though these variants have not found a customer yet, the AS21 Redback version has
been chosen by Australia.
The vehicle, which won the Australian Army's LAND 400 Phase 3 tender against the Rheinmetall's
Lynx KF41, has quite different features from the original K21.
The AS21 has a Plasan-made additional armour package and the Elbit-made Iron Fist active
protection system to increase survivability.
The vehicle also has the EOS T-2000 turret based on the Elbit MT30 Mk 2 with a 30mm ATK
Mark 44S Bushmaster II autocannon and a 7.62mm MAG58 coaxial machine gun.
The turret is also fitted with the Rafael Spike LR2 anti-tank guided missile system
and the EOS R400 remote-controlled weapon station.
All these changes increase the combat weight to 42 tons.
So, the vehicle is equipped with the 1,000-horsepower MTU MT881 Ka-500 diesel engine with an Alison
transmission.
Still, the top speed decreases to 65 kilometres per hour.
Australia initially planned to produce 450 Redback locally to replace its M113AS4 fleet.
This number was reduced to 129.
The first vehicle will delivered in 2027.
Since North Korea has no armoured vehicles with thick armour and heavy weapons, why did
South Korea prefer such a powerful 40mm gun for the K21?
As mentioned, the ROKA expected the Korean People's Army would acquire or copy the latest
Soviet equipment in the 1990s.
So, it was a preparation for the future.
Besides, the K237 armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot-tracer munition, which can
penetrate up to 220 millimetre-thick armour from a 1,000-metre distance, was a logical
preference since North Korea had many T-55s and T-62-based Chonma-hos.
The T-55 had 205-millimetre frontal and 70-millimetre side armour.
So, a 40mm round could penetrate this tank's armour within a considerable distance.
Even though it was ineffective against the Chunm-ho's frontal armour, the K40 could still
penetrate this tank's side armour.
So, the 40mm gun has been a sensible choice.
Besides, the K21 will soon have the AT-1K Raybolt anti-tank missiles, making the vehicle
a sizable opponent of the latest North Korean tanks.
Why did South Korea not prefer an innovative 40mm gun firing telescoped ammunition?
Indeed, such weapons and munition have certain advantages.
However, they are still new, and a few countries have chosen them.
This situation also has caused some handicaps.
The limited user number makes the munition considerably expensive.
Besides, the fact that only a limited number of manufacturers produce them might cause
supply problems in a possible war.
And even though telescoped ammunition is perfect on paper, it has not been battle-tested.
It has the risk of unanticipated shortcomings.
So, there is nothing wrong here that South Korea has chosen the proven and smoothly available
old-style 40mm gun and ammunition.
While the rest of the world is preparing a new type of warfare, South Korea needs weapon
systems designed for old total war doctrines.
Current modern armies rely on battalion or even company-size battle groups.
They prefer heavily armoured vehicles to minimize soldier loss.
Many military planners think that their armies would not fight for survival.
In the worst-case scenario, they would withdraw from the area, as France did in Mali or the
U.S.A. in Afghanistan.
This is not an option for the South Koreans in a possible new Korean War.
So, being aware that there is no option for winning such a war without heavy losses, the
ROKA is preparing for a manoeuvre war.
So, the K21 prioritize mobility rather than protection.
Besides, the high mobility is also a factor that increases survivability.
As we see in Ukraine, prioritizing the small combat groups and protection are also invalid
in the war in this region.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine can win with small-unit actions.
An old-style war might cause heavy losses, but one of the parties would probably have
won.
Even though the K21 won the Australian tender, it lost in the U.S.A. and Poland.
These countries have different doctrines, threat perceptions, and requirements than
South Korea.
Also, they have the national capability to design an infantry fighting vehicle.
So, it is unsurprising that the U.S.A. and Poland did not choose the K21.
The world is changing, and the Second Cold War is rising.
For many countries, the K21 is among the soundest options in the new order.
After all, the world is not just the U.S.A. and Western Europe.
Different geographies require different solutions.
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