Recently, my country’s 99A and 15 models have shown the hoisting and replacement of integrated power packs, demonstrating a battlefield rapid repair capability. The power pack is a great leap in the history of tank development. By highly integrating the engine, gearbox, cooling system, and auxiliary power unit into a compact modular power pack, it greatly improves the efficiency of engine maintenance and replacement, and replaces the previous engine. It takes several hours to shorten to just tens of minutes.
my country has now realized the power pack of all new tanks. In addition to the 99A and 15, other models include 96B, VT-4 and VT-5. Behind the "cabbageization" of power packs on domestic tanks is the result of the persistent efforts of Chinese military workers for a long time.
Many people think that the tank power pack just integrates the engine, gearbox and other miscellaneous accessories and installs them together, and it is not difficult. But in fact, it is not. Due to the limited space of the tank's power compartment, the power pack is required to have very high reliability while maintaining extremely high torque density. If there is no complete industrial foundation and perfect design experience, it will not be possible. from.
South Korea’s K2 "Black Panther" main battle tank is a typical negative example. The Korean National Defense Procurement and Planning Agency (DAPA) recently announced that it has decided to equip the third batch of 50 K2s with German gearboxes, which marks South Korea’s K2 power pack. The localization efforts that lasted for 15 years have completely failed. Z1z
The K2 main battle tank project launched in 1995 was highly expected by South Korea. In addition to being the successor to the K1 tank against North Korea’s improved "sloppy tiger", it also tried to overcome the difficulties in the development of the tank power pack by developing the K2. Restricted by the technology of a third country, another Korean weapon star export product will be created.
The power pack that South Korea plans to equip K2 consists of two core components. They are the 1500 horsepower DV27K turbocharged diesel engine developed by Doosan Construction Machinery Co., Ltd. and the EST15K automatic gearbox developed by S&T Power. The package can ensure that the K2 speeds up to 70 kilometers per hour on the road and 48 kilometers per hour off-road. However, due to the lack of technical reserves of Korean companies, domestic engines and gearboxes have always failed to meet the standards in terms of reliability and durability, resulting in K2 being unable to enter full-speed production. The first batch of 100 K2s manufactured in 2014-2015 can only be in desperation. , A fully imported power pack consisting of German MTU MT-883 + German RENK HSWL 295 TM automatic transmission is installed. The second batch of K2 manufactured in 2019-2020 is equipped with Doosan DV27K engine + German gearbox combination. DAPA originally thought that the third batch of K2 produced in 2020 could use the nationally produced power pack. As a result, the EST15K automatic gearbox of S&T Power Company still failed the durability test. It had to use the strange power of the domestic engine + German gearbox. Package combination.
's delay in being unable to equip the domestic power pack not only delayed the production schedule of K2, but also greatly restricted the export of the tank. For Turkey, which has expressed interest in the K2, whether the tank's power unit is not restricted by a third country has become an extremely sensitive issue.
