North Korea Announces Large Scale Production of Next Gen. Tianma 2: Massive Tank Factory Revealed

North Korean state media has unveiled a large scale new factory manufacturing the next generation Tianma 2 main battle tanks, as well as tracked vehicles carrying very high calibre 600mm rocket artillery for the KN-25 system. The facility was shown during a visit by the chairman of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party Kim Jong Un, who stressed that replacing the Korean People’s Army’s armoured vehicles of the last century with the latest models had become a primary task of building the armed forces. The chairman expressed satisfaction that in the field of tank industry, North Korea’s new tank design its fire controls had been updated, improving the comfort of the tank crew. The industry had also demonstrated the high performance and reliability of its “super high power” engine project allowing or mass production. He highlighted the development of an integrated power transmission system that can improve the driving performance and various mobility performance, as well as the innovative upgrades to the latest active protection system, passive protection means, and electronic warfare systems, which marked major progress made in the development of key technologies of the new tank and the highly value the achievements of scientific and technological personnel.

While visiting the factory Chairman Kim emphasised the importance of tanks in modern warfare, stating that changes in the conditions on the modern battle field had made it critical to accurately grasp the military role that such vehicles planed. “We must re-understand the tank design, otherwise it is impossible to do a good job of armoured force construction,” he observed. Before the year 2020, the Korean People’s Army was known only to field enhanced derivatives of the Soviet T-62 as its backbone, after the tank class was produced in the country under license from the 1980s. Over 2000 older Soviet T-54/55 tanks were also in service, while the elite of the country’s armoured units was formed of Pokpung Ho tanks that entered service in the 2000s, but still lacked comparable sophistication to foreign designs such as the Chinese Type 99, Russian T-90M, or South Korean K2. The unveiling of the Chonma 2 tank in 2020, however, represented a major milestone in North Korean tank design, with the vehicle representing the country’s first that could be considered potentially fully on par with its overseas competitors. Increasingly advanced variants of the tank have since continued to be unveiled, including the new Tianma 2 first seen in November 2024.

The Chonma 2 and Tianma 2 are notable for their integration of active protection systems, which use radars to continuously monitor their surrounding environments for incoming threats, and when detecting incoming projectiles track them automatically, calculate their trajectories, and deploy protective munitions to intercept and destroy them. Active protection systems were first operationalised by Israel in 2009, with the lack of comparable systems in the Western world leading Germany and the United States to acquire the Israeli Trophy system for their own tanks. Russia only began to operationalise such a system in 2024, possibly later than North Korea. North Korea’s active protection system was first seen in use in footage released in July 2023 showing the Chonma 2 tank in testing. The Tianma 2’s primary armament is a 125mm smoothbore gun, with footage previously released having confirmed the deployment of modern armour piercing fin stabilised discarding sabot rounds with excellent length to diameter ratios, indicating a high penetrative capability. Greater length indicates a more structurally efficient sabot design allowing it to defeat greater line of sight armour depth. As secondary armaments, the tank’s remotely operated weapon station deploys both launchers for anti-tank guided missiles, as well as a 12.7mm heavy machine gun. The turret roof of the tank is outfitted with a counter-drone launcher system.

A modular composite armour turret on the Tianma 2 appears to offer high levels of protection against both kinetic energy projectiles and shaped charges. The front and sides of the hull are covered by Explosive Reactive Armour, while additional protection against shaped charges such as rocket propelled grenades is provided by wire cage armour in the rear. A panoramic sight system for the commander and gunner provide enhanced target acquisition and tracking capabilities and significantly improved levels of situational awareness. The Tianma 2 is also notable for being the first North Korean tank to integrate an autoloader, reducing its crew from four to three personnel and increasing the rate of fire. North Korea has demonstrated the ability to produce combat vehicles on a scale previously only thought to be possible in neighbouring China, with a notable example being its mass production of launchers for KN-24 ballistic missile systems allowing 1000 of them to be commissioned to frontline units near the inter-Korean border in 2024. Large scale production of the Tianma 2 could facilitate a revolutionising of the country’s frontline armoured warfare capabilities, allowing for a total phasing out of the T-55, T-62 and Pokpung 2 from frontline and secondary positions. This would contribute to the significant shift in the balance of power on the Korean Peninsula favouring the north, which has seen its defence sector reach world leading standing in a wide range of areas over the past decade from anti-tank guided missiles and hypersonic glide vehicles to surface to air missile systems.