Better Than Russia’s T-90M? North Korea Sending New Chonma-2 Tanks to Fight Ukraine

Head of Ukrainian military intelligence Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov has reported that the Korean People’s Army is preparing to dispatch fifty to one hundred combat vehicles and their crews to support the ongoing Russian war effort in the Ukrainain theatre, including both the Chonma-2 main battle tank and the BTR-80 armoured personnel carrier. North Korea has already exported a wide range of vehicles to Russia, including ballistic missile launch vehicles, anti-tank vehicles, air defence systems, and BTR-80s. The Chonma-2, however, would represent a marked escalation in the Korean People’s Army’s involvement in the theatre. While North Korea has exported main battle tanks in the past, including for use in the Iran-Iraq War, the deployment of locally built tanks alongside their crews is an unprecedented development. Budanov noted that this would provide the Korean People’s Army with experience in large-scale modern warfare, stressing that only three countries currently possess such operational knowledge on an extended frontline and in a conflict that mobilised almost all available military means, namely Russia, Ukraine and North Korea.

North Korean tank designs were before the 2020s considered well behind the cutting edge, with the service entry of the Chonma-2 around the beginning of the new decade marking a transformative change in the standing of the country’s defence sector in the field, as very significant advances were being made across areas of defence production. The tank class is expected to have a distinct advantage over the large majority of armoured vehicles deployed by both sides, including benefitting from an active protection system – a subsystem that no Ukrainian tanks field and which a small number of Russian tanks began to integrate only from late 2024. Such systems 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 – thus preventing them from impacting the tank. North Korea’s active protection system was first seen in use in footage released in July 2023. The integration of the system reflects the broader level of sophistication of the new North Korean vehicle.

The Chonma-2 will be the only clean sheet post-Cold War main battle tank design used in the Ukrainain theatre, with Russian, Ukrainian and NATO tanks all being variants or derivatives of Cold War era designs. All active Russian and Ukrainain designs are variants or derivatives of the T-54 and T-64 that entered service in the 1940s and 1960s respectively, in contrast to North Korea which, like its neighbours China, Japan and South Korea, has continued to develop clean sheet new designs. The Chonma-2 integrates thermal sights for both the gunner and for the commander, while fire controls include a screen with several buttons that appear to be a battle management system with advanced positioning features – something few tank classes in the world have. The tank has been confirmed to have access to three separate kinds of rounds, namely armour piercing fin stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS), high explosive anti tank (HEAT), and High Explosive Fragmentation rounds, with the APFSDS round being modern design with an excellent length to diameter ratio indicating a very high penetrative capability. Greater length indicates a more structurally efficient sabot design allowing it to defeat greater line of sight armour depth.

Overall the Chonma-2 main well be the most capable class of main battle tank deployed against Ukraine, with its standing against the most capable Russian tanks such as the T-90M and T-80BVM remaining uncertain. There remains a significant possibility that the much newer tank design may indeed outperform its Russian counterparts, with North Korean armaments having frequently had better performances than their counterparts in Russian service. The Bulsae-4 anti-tank missile and KN-23B ballistic missile system are among the notable examples. The Chonma-2, specifically the enhanced Tianma-2 variant, was confirmed in May to be in large scale production at a new facility, with a significant possibility remaining that the design will be modified based on experience gained in the Ukrainian theatre.

Should the tank provide capable, there remains a significant possibility that significant export orders may be placed to equip the Russian Army, as despite progress in increasing tank production, the service is still losing tanks far faster than it can currently replenish them. This has resulted in an increasingly critical depletion of Soviet era tanks stockpiles. Such exports could be a major boon for North Korea’s tank industry, generating potentially lucrative revenues and interest from more clients further afield.