North Korea OOB

[Marcello]

Unit 65 Type 11 APC
1)It should have some basic night vision capabilities, say 15 or 20.
2)Weapon n. 63 7.62mm PKT CMG could be added in slot 2
IR projector is fitted and it appears also that a coax MG is present.


(the close up is actually of the locally produced BTR lookalike but the turret is basically the same mounted on the type 11)

Unit 460 SU-76
Ammunition could be changed to something like 48 HE and 12 AP

Unit 402-412-422 DShK HMG
Unit 90-171-650 76mm Zis-3
Unit 91-170 122mm M30 FG
Unit 637 37mm AA-Gun
Unit 3 PT-76B
Unit 42 VTT 37mm SPAAG
Final availability date extended to 12/2020
It is quite apparent from the footage of parades and exercises I have seen recently that the KPA seldom retires anything.
Zis-3 guns have been paraded around together with the M30s and have also reportedly been used during the bombardment of Yeonpyeong.



Weapon n. 155 Susang Po ATGM
HEAT penetration increased to 52 or at least 46
It is reported to be a local Sagger copy, thus penetration could be increased to at least the basic level.

Unit 293 Susang Po Team
A RPG-7 could be added in slot 4 for good measure, given the significant minimum range.

To be added
A formation with four trucks
It would make things more handy with the four gun batteries

[Marcello]

Self propelled artillery
Sorting out north korean self propelled tube artillery is a difficult task. Broadly speaking it seems that north Korean self propelled artillery development has taken such forms.
1)Towed guns of various types mounted on the rear of the standard ATS-59 tractor


Source: Jedsite

2) Assorted guns mounted on an armored chassis based on ATS-59 in open topped mounts without full traverse.


3) Assorted guns (but on the lighter side, such as D-30s and antitank pieces) mounted on a VTT-323 APC derived chassis, in open topped mounts without full traverse.


4) Assorted guns mounted in a fully enclosed, turret equipped SPA.


5)In addition to this some miscellaneous types, such as the 170mm Koksan, the 120mm turret mortar etc.

The last three categories are decently represented as it is. The first two might require some changes. It is not easy as the designations are generally given for year and caliber but often they are not clear about which model of gun is fitted to which chassis. On the basis of Bermudez and other sources I would suggest the following changes.

Unit 281 M1974, unit 283 M1991 and unit 466 M1985 would be deleted

Unit 465 M1975 SPG
1)Icon changed to n. 2346 or a dedicated icon
2)Speed reduced to 13
3)Ammunition could be reduced, say by half or more.
This would be the basic non armored ATS-59 based version. Being apparently an ad hoc installation probably not much space for on board ammo is available.

A clone of the above unit 465 added with the following changes
Name changed to M1974
Rearmed with weapon n. 111 152mm D-20 FH. ROF and ammo load changed as needed

A dedicated icon for the armored version of the ATS-59 based chassis might be worthwhile.
Armament would be in three variants
M1981 with a D-74 122mm gun
M1981 with a 130mm gun
M1985 with a D-20 152mm gun

The closest to a top view I could get.


I would suggest low armor values, maybe 2 for the hull front, 0 on top and 1 elsewhere. Speed could be set to 15. Availability dates could be set at about the nominal year or so. Ammunition load same or slightly higher than the non armored variant, still less than the fully enclosed Chuch'e-Po

Formation 75 SP-Mortar Bty
Number of units increased to 9

A SP-Mortar Pl could be added with three vehicles

A clone of formation 245 Mech Bn Spt could be added with the following changes
1)Mot Mortar Pl in slot 5 replaced by formation n.75 SP-Mortar Bty
2)Wheeled ATGM Pl in slot 6 replaced by formation 60 Tracked ATGM Pl.
3)Availability date 1/1985-12/2020
To account for the availability of VTT-323 based variants.