The Orbital Armored Vehicles Owned by Our Military Are

K21 Infantry Fighting Vehicle

K200 Armored Personnel Carrier

[Monthly Defense Times Editor-in-Chief Ahn Seung-beom] The K21 Infantry Fighting Vehicle completed the deployment of approximately 400 units up to the third batch of mass production in December 2016 and has been assigned to the Capital, 8th, and 11th Mechanized Infantry Divisions. Currently, mass production of the basic model has ended, and only the K21 light armored vehicle for maintenance support is being produced.

The K21 Infantry Fighting Vehicle is an amphibious mechanized infantry fighting vehicle with a combat weight of 25 tons. It can carry 3 crew members and 9 dismount infantry. It is equipped with the most powerful firepower among deployed mechanized infantry combat vehicles (MICV), featuring a 40mm autocannon, and provides protection against 30mm autocannon rounds on the front and 14.5mm heavy machine gun rounds on the sides and rear. The Redback armored vehicle, developed based on the K21 Infantry Fighting Vehicle, is being promoted for export to Australia.

Since the early stages of development, the main gun has been replaced with a 40mm cased telescoped ammunition (CTA) autocannon to accommodate the installation of the Hyeongung anti-tank missile, reduce turret size, and increase ammunition capacity. In addition, inactive reactive armor has been installed to enhance side protection, and a soft-kill active defense system has been applied. Other features under consideration include EMP shielding devices, and 360-degree situational awareness observation systems equipped with day and night panoramic cameras.

There is also the K200 series armored vehicle. Except for the K262A3 self-propelled Vulcan cannon, all K200 vehicles are subject to the A1 upgrade, which replaces the engine with a 350-horsepower unit. Since the mass production of about 400 K21 Infantry Fighting Vehicles has ended, they will continue to be operated as the main armored vehicles of mechanized infantry battalions for the time being.

Additional performance upgrades, such as the installation of remote-controlled weapon stations (RCWS), are under review. However, the K200 armored vehicle, which even struggles to counter North Korea’s M2010 Junma armored vehicle, is inevitably limited in performing mechanized infantry combat on the modern battlefield. To guarantee firepower and battlefield survivability that overwhelm North Korea’s and neighboring countries’ armored vehicles, there is no alternative but to increase production of the K21. Given the current limited defense budget, it is impossible to replace all 1,700 K200 vehicles simultaneously. Therefore, a long-term plan to gradually replace the vehicles of mechanized infantry battalions is a reasonable approach.