South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense has unveiled a new armored personnel carrier (APC) concept that can better withstand chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats. CBRN defense consists of CBRN passive protection, contamination avoidance, and CBRN mitigation. A CBRN incident differs from a hazardous material incident in both scope and intent. A computer-generated image that accompanied DAPA’s media statement indicates that these older vehicles are namely a biological reconnaissance variant of the Kia K311 (K317) all-terrain military truck, and a nuclear, biological, and chemical-resistant variant of the Doosan K200 armoured personnel carrier (K216).
Details of the new CBRN-resistant armored personnel carrier type were disclosed by the country’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) in a media release on 22 December. To reduce the country’s defense budget, the new APC is being developed with components from two older vehicle types that are in service with the Republic of Korea Army (Roka). The new vehicle will be able to monitor airborne chemical agents from a distance and detect the sources of these agents via specialized equipment, without disclosing further details of these systems. The vehicle have similar design with K200A1 Armored Personnel Carrier.
The K200 KIFV (Korea Infantry Fighting Vehicle) is a South Korean armored personnel carrier, originally produced by Hanwa (originally Daewoo Heavy Industries, renamed Doosan DST then Hanwha Defense Systems) as a domestic replacement for older armored personnel carriers, such as the M113, in front line service with the Republic of Korea Armed Forces at the time of the K200’s development. Since 2009 the K200 has been supplemented by the K21. A total of 2,383 K200 vehicles of all configurations were produced between 1985 and 2006, among which are 111 K200A1 vehicles exported to Malaysia.
