In 1995, the South Korean Agency for Defense Development was given the task of developing a modern armored fighting vehicle based upon state-of-the-art domestic technologies. It was intended for this development program to further modernize the Republic of Korea (R.O.K.) Army, despite the superior capability of their existing K1 and K1A1 MBTs against the existing aged fleet of North Korean tanks. Emphasis upon indigenous technologies would also allow the proposed vehicle to enter the export market without licensing difficulties. It was initially planned for the vehicle to be equipped with Rheinmetall’s experimental 140mm smoothbore gun, though this had to be abandoned when the German firm ceased development upon the rationale that the current 120mm/L55 would be more than adequate to counter prospective armoured threats for the foreseeable future. The K2 was subsequently reconfigured for the 120 mm/L55.
A K2 Black Panther on the range. (Republic of Korea Armed Forces)