K2 Black Panther

The K2 Black Panther (Hangul: K2 '흑표'; Hanja: K2 '黒豹') is a South Korean main battle tank that will replace most of the M48 Patton III tanks and complement the K1 series of main battle tanks currently fielded by the Republic of Korea. Mass production commenced in 2013 and the first K2s were deployed with the armed forces in June 2014. The K2 costs over US$8.5 million per unit.

Variants

 * XK2: Experimental model.
 * K2: First production variant. 316 units planned to be built starting in 2013.
 * K2 PIP: Upgrading the semi-active in-arm suspension unit (ISU) to an active in-arm suspension unit, integration of a high-resolution terrain-scanning system to the vehicle's suspension system. This allow the vehicle to scanning nearby terrain up to 50 meters away in all directions and calculate the optimal position of the enemy in order to improve vehicle handling over rough terrain. The improvement also might include hard-kill anti-missile system and non-explosive reactive armour (NERA)
 * Altay: A variant of the K2 developed by Hyundai and Otokar for the Turkish Armed Forces.
 * K2PL: Proposed licensed version for the Polish Armed Forces.

Users

 * Republic of Korea
 * Republic of Korea Army x 316 - 164 more on order

Related Development

 * K1-88 Tank
 * Altay tank

Comparable Tanks

 * M1 Abrams
 * FV4034 Challenger 2
 * AMX Leclerc
 * Krauss-Maffei Leopard 2
 * Krauss-Maffei Leopard 2E
 * Stridsvagn 122
 * T-90M/MS
 * Type 10 Hitomaru