Chonma-ho IV, V, VIBy Massimo Tessitori |
First version with laminated turret instead of the T-62 style cast turret. It is unclear if the turret has spaced or composite armour, or it is a simple replica of the cast turret made with welded plates. According to Wikipedia, a ballistic computer was added to the fire control suite, and the fire control suite has been integrated into a complete system rather than being a patchwork of upgrades. Gun stabilization has been improved. Radios are improved, and the suspension beefed up. The new engine is a 750-horsepower model which can lay a thick, oily smoke screen by injecting diesel fuel into its exhaust.
This evolution is characterized by the increased protection of the turret, that has become slightly larger because of the increase of thickness of the plates and for the use of spaced armour on the turret sides too. Its internal systems are said to have been improved with a thermal viewer and a new ballistic computer.
The successor of Chonma-98 is Chonma-214 (them both could de described as Chonma-ho 5).
The photo below allows a direct comparison between Chonma-98 (numbered 216) and the close Chonma-214 (numbered 138).
The
base shape of the turret is the same, but Chonma-214 has an added-on
armour on its side plates; their lower part is closed by thick
rubber sheets to detonate explosive shells, a method that doesn't
prevent too much the emergency escape of the driver.
A pair of wide rubber sheets are installed on the lower front plate of the hull, similarly to T-80U.
The front plate of the hull was thickened, and bears a different arrangement of the lights and eight spare track links to improve protection. Four hinged steel plates are installed on the rubber side skirts to improve ballistic protection, again inspired by Soviet tanks. An hexagonal plate strengthens the armour just in front of the driver's hatch, where spare tracks would have disturbed the view from hyposcopes.
Chonma-214
was well photographed during the parade of 2010. Here are some
images, that should be enough to trace an approximate scale drawing.
The description given by the US DoD for this type includes an improved armour and a stretched hull with 6 bearing wheels.
The description corresponds vaguely to Chonma-215 and 216, also defined as Pokpung-ho I and II by the US DoD (but not called so by North Koreans).