North Korea Unveils Heavily Enhanced New Chonma 20 Tank: Are Exports to Russia Next?

The Korean People’s Army has unveiled a new type of main battle tank, the Chonma 20, which was first seen in Kim Il Sung Square at a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party. The tank represents a further improvement on the Chonma 2 design that was first unveiled in October 2020, and follows the unveiling of the previous iteration of the design, the Tianma 2, in November 2024. Reporting on the capabilities of the new vehicle, the state run Korean Central News Agency reported: “mechanised units demonstrated the modern main battle tank Chonma 20, which has powerful strike capability and a reliable protection system.” The report highlighted that the tank benefited from improved survivability and firepower, symbolising progress in the defence sector’s armoured vehicle design capabilities.

Notable differences between the Chonma 20 and the older Chonma 2 and Tianma 2 include a redesigned driver’s hatch, the integration of a new turret-mounted remotely controlled anti-aircraft gun, a modified turret armour layout, and most notably the integration of a new active protection system providing a defence against guided missile and possibly drone attacks. One of the most significant advances over the original Chonma 2 achieved by the Tianma 2, and inherited by the new design, is the integration of an autoloader to facilitate an increased rate of fire and reduced crew requirements from four to three, providing an advantage over American and German tanks which still rely on manual loading. North Korea’s active protection system was first seen in use in footage released in July 2023, and uses 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.

In May 2025 North Korean state media unveiled a large scale new tank factory, at which time chairman of the Korean Workers’ Party Kim Jong Un 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 the new tank design and 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, with the chairman highlighting the development of an integrated power transmission system that can improve the driving performance and various mobility performance. Where before the year 2020, the Korean People’s Army was known only to field enhanced license produced derivatives of the Soviet T-62 in its elite units, the unveiling of the Chonma 2 represented a major milestone in North Korean tank design representing the country’s first that could be considered potentially fully on par with its most capable overseas competitors.

It remains uncertain whether full scale production at the new tank factory is focused on the new Chonma 20, or on the Tianma 2, and when the newer tank may be intended to fully replace its predecessor in production. Expanded production will not only allow for a more rapid phasing out of Cold War era vehicles, which considering their age will provide a revolutionary improvement to the Army’s capabilities, but it could also allow for rapid exports at a time of high demand globally for advanced main battle tanks. In August the head of Ukrainian military intelligence Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov claimed that preparations were underway to dispatch Chonma 2 tanks and other advanced armour to support the Russian war effort in the Ukrainian theatre, raising questions regarding whether exports to equip the Russian Army were expected.