>>63958534
>>63958348
>>63958434
The K1 was originally based on an older Chrysler prototype of the M1 that featured an AVCR engine built by Continental who built the AVDS in the M60. It was variable compression and it ended up too complex and unreliable. ADD of Korea got frustrated trying to modify the AVCR and make it reliable especially with Korean summer heat/humidity and replaced it with a MTU modified Mercedes-Benz V8 turbodiesel tank engine related to the MTU V12 in the Leopard 2 that was more reliable. The engine was smaller and the K1 was to be deployed largely in mountains, forests and urban areas so maximal effort was placed on scaling down the vehicle and lightening. This ended up basically being a shrunken Abrams with a German powerplant. Variants with 44 ton and 48 ton armor packages were designed for export to South East Asia and Latin America. Indonesia and Peru looked into these but went for cheaper Soviet based designs, though Peru is now 20 years later looking at a tropicalized K2.