Ch'onma-ho
In service 1980 - In service
Based onT-62 (licensed production of)
North Korea's locally built development of the Soviet T-62, produced in a long series of progressively modified marks and the backbone of the Korean People's Army armoured force.
Built byRyu Kyong-su Tank Factory
Development history
North Korea obtained T-62 tanks from the Soviet Union in the 1970s and put a domestic version into production at Sinhung as the Ch'onma-ho, meaning "Sky Horse". Rather than freeze the design, the Koreans reworked it repeatedly across at least six acknowledged marks, adding laser rangefinders, thermal sleeves, side skirts, applique armour, anti-aircraft missile mounts and eventually reactive armour blocks and a 125 mm gun. Figures are uncertain because the programme is opaque, and Western estimates of total production vary widely. The vehicle is significant less for its technology than for what it shows about a small isolated economy sustaining armoured vehicle manufacture for four decades. The later P'okp'ung-ho is a separate, larger design.