PMI0221A ROKIT K1A2

The K1 Rokit is a modern 3rd generation South Korean main battle tank. The first prototypes of the vehicle were made in 1983, and serial production started in 1984 is probably still going on. So far (2018), about 1,000 tanks of this type have been produced. The K1 is powered by the MTU MB 871 Ka 501 engine with 1,200 hp. The vehicle is armed with a single 105mm M68 tank gun, two 7.62mm machine guns and a single 12.7mm machine gun. At the beginning of the 1980s, the command of the South Korean army came to the conclusion that it had to find a replacement that would no longer fit into the modern battlefield, but the still used M48 Patton. It was decided that the new tank - the K1 - would be produced domestically as much as possible, but with the help of foreign companies, especially American ones. The company Chrysler Defense - the same company that developed the M1 Abrams tank - provided significant help in the work and production of the first series. In the course of serial production of the K1 Rokit, one important development version of this tank was created - the K1A1, which was armed with the M256 120 mm gun. The K1 version of the tank was offered to Malaysia in the late 1990s, but lost the competition to the PT-91 Twardy.