The most modern Korean Main Battle Tank on the field today is the K1A1 (the newer K2 Black Panther is not yet field operational) and it doesn’t have air conditioning. The KT indicates that the K1A1 has gone through a modernization program that will supposedly add advanced C4I network-centric battlefield management systems but no air conditioning. This would make it the only modern tank based on Western technology that is missing the important creature comfort.
According to the Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff:
“… an air conditioning system doesn’t affect field operations much, and soldiers can and should overcome such a difficulty in the field,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
Well, the Private Kims and Parks of the world would beg to differ:
“If the military plans to spend money for upgrading the K1A1 tank to an up-to-date one, why doesn’t it consider installing the air conditioning system? The military leadership should understand what soldiers in the field really want, not just speaking of military modernization.”
What the soldiers in the field want? Hey, expendable draftee private! It’s the ROK Army, it’s not a democracy!
However, Hyundai Rotem, manufacturers of the tank, says they are putting air conditioning in the design plans because potential export customers in hotter climates (i.e. Southeast Asia) may want it as a precondition to consideration. So, at the end of the day Private Kim may get air conditioning in his tank but not because a general cares whether or not he gets heat stroke in those tough summer training months but because the brown man in the jungles of Thailand or Indonesia may demand it.
{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Air conditioning was never considered a requirement for tanks until fairly recently. Neither the M1 nor the Leopard 2, the most numerous Nato tanks of the late cold war were originally fitted them because their primary operating environment was envisioned as North-central Europe. Adding air conditioning was considered an expensive and not altogether useful luxury. Ditto for the Soviets.
A significant percentage of US and Coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan still probably do not have air conditioning inside their armored vehicles. Earlier, U.S. vehicle operators were making due with awkward liquid cooled vests as an interim solution. I understand the only version of the M1 with air conditioning right now is the M1A2SEP and that only constitutes a small fraction of the total U.S. M1 inventory.
America’s Nato allies are even worse off in the air conditioning department. I can only imagine how much it sucks to be a Danish or Canadian soldier used to year round cool weather stuck in Afghanistan or Iraq inside what is essentially a giant oven.
No doubt Top Brass thinks the current generation of draftees to be a bunch of wusses softened by recent prosperity.
What’d you mean you can’t fight without AC? During the War, we fought the Reds and we didn’t have enough food, training, or even guns! Be happy you even have a tank !
What a bizarre and vaguely repulsive post this is.
Sounds like something my dad (and my uncles) use to tell me.
You should listen to you dad (and uncles).
War is not about comfort. Air conditioning is neither required nor really desired, in some cases. It is another system that can break down, increasing the requirements on your logistics system for something that does nothing to help kill the enemy. There additionally is a slight performance hit–something you definitely want to reduce. Also, the way you avoid heat stroke is by drinking water.
@ Jing
Hmm… I was under the impression that air conditioning generally dehydrates the environment it is affecting. Wouldn’t that be a terrible addition to dry-hot climates like the Middle East? (probably does wonders for humid-hot environments in Southeast Asia…)
Don’t you guys know those tanks are just for show and a means to line the pockets of whatever chaebol will manufacture them?
hmm… a closed environment with forced air… wouldn’t that lead to a higher rate of fandeath? The top brass are saving your lives, you dumb private! That’s why you’re a private, and not a general!
You still need to drink plenty of water. You can easily get heat stroke operating with the hatches closed in environments like Afghanistan and Iraq without air conditioning. Think of the sensation of getting into a parked car that has spent a couple hours in a parking lot on a sunny day, but more. All of the equipment inside the tank, not to mention heat generated from firing the gun, and the fact you are in a big enclosed tub of steel with a few other people means it gets really hot inside. Bearable if you are fighting in Germany, not so much in the middle east. Leaving all the hatches open so you can get air blowing in or sticking your head out means you are vulnerable to incoming fire. The air conditioning in tanks destined for such environments don’t really make a tank comfortable, but simply livable when the shtf and you need the hatches closed.
big freaking deal, in real war you don’t need air conditioning.
Y’all are just killers. Eugh!
I had American tankers tell me a few years back that when their tank seals up against chemical attack, it gets *very* hot in there with all of that electronic gear. They mentioned that the prevailing wisdom is that any real attack from the north would be during a dry season, such as winter because many places would be flooded in spring or summer.
They seemed to appreciate the A/C option, though I am sure they could do fine without it.
Huh? If that were true the ME wouldn’t use air conditioning. They’re addicted to air con. Runs all the time.
LOL @ 8.
Didn’t the Korea War start on 25 June? Them Norks moved pretty quickly through the flooded lands.
If you have computers in your vehicles you’ll want to keep them cool.
I actually know a few tankers who where in Iraq (and one who is going back fairly soon).
Basically, they say in cooler climates, you can do without air conditioning just fine. But in a desert, you’re in a big metal box that generates a lot of heat just on it’s own, your running the risk of the crew being more exhausted than they need to be. Keep in mind, in a combat situation tankers can and will operate for several days straight.
Air conditioning should be considered for the environment and combat effectiveness, not for comfort.
It’s popular here in Arizona too, but people end up getting seriously dehydrated partly because of too much A/C (and partly because they don’t drink enough water (stupidity)). I was wondering maybe a compact version of swamp cooler is more suitable for dry-hot climates…
You didn’t hear this from me, but there’s a spot by the A/C system in Leopard 2 tanks that’s just the right size for storing and cooling a case of beer.
Do you mean the Leopard C1A1 or the Leopard C2? If you did mean the C2 it was upgraded to to that standard in 2000. Weren’t you in Korea at that time?
The Leopard 2′s were purchased 2007.
Make that the Leopard 2A6M’s
Well, it is a German tank afterall…
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