Daewoo K200 KIFV

The K200 Korean Infantry Fighting Vehicle (KIFV) is an amphibious tracked personnel carrier built by Daewoo and based on the American AIFV. Daewoo's land systems division became prime contractor for the KIFV programme in the early 1980s, series production began in 1984, and thousands have been delivered to the South Korean army.

Design

The improved K200A1 carries twelve people including the driver, gunner and commander, and the infantry can fire their rifles from inside through firing ports. Armament is a .50 calibre and a .30 calibre machine gun on the gunner's and commander's cupolas. A 350 hp diesel with an automatic hydrokinetic transmission, packaged as a single power pack, gives about 26.5 hp per tonne at a combat weight of 13.2 tonnes. Road speed exceeds 70 km/h, and the A1 reaches 32 km/h in about 6.5 seconds, against 10 seconds for the original K200.

The vehicle is fully amphibious, swimming at about 7 km/h propelled by its tracks, so it can cross water without support.

Variants

From the mid-1980s Daewoo developed a family of variants: 81 mm and 4.2 inch mortar carriers, a 20 mm Vulcan anti-aircraft gun carrier and a recovery vehicle, followed later by a command post vehicle and an NBC reconnaissance vehicle.