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Doosan AT T-72HD 'Protected Construction Vehicle'
Once HD Hyundai Infracore had its 'RepOffice' registration in Ukraine, plans were made to perform final assembly of K2UA Tyhr main battle tanks in a new facility at Rivne. [1] This plant in western Ukraine was a Korean-Ukrainian joint venture called HD-UA - a JSC formed by HD Hyundai Infracore and state-owned Ukroboronprom. But HD-UA also had a civilian branch operating as Doosan AT (in Ukraine, the old Doosan name was still better-known for heavy equipment than the global Hyundai rebranding). [2]
Prior to the collapse of the Russian Federation and the war's end, the Republic of Korea had been resistant to providing direct military aid to Kyiv. Instead, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) provided non-lethal aid through agreements with Kyiv and the UN Development Programme. After the war, Seoul donated 35 x ex-ROK Army T-80 series tanks to Ukraine (which would be employed for Dissimilar Ground Combat Training). These included 2 x T-80UK 'commander tanks', 30 x T-80U MBTs, and 3 x T-80U(XO) demining vehicles. The latter formed the basis for the first non-military vehicles assembled at the Rivne plant. These were a series of T-72HD 'protected construction vehicles' derived from the longer-hulled T-80U(XO).
Based on salvaged ZSU and ex-Russian Army T-72 model tank hulls, the T-72HD were fitted with cabs based on those of the DX225LC track excavators. [4] Unlike the demining T-80U(XO), T-72HD cabs weren't armour-protected. It was thought that the original tank hull provided sufficient blast-protection for the T-72HD's primarily role of deconstruction wartime trenches and fortifications. Despite being considered civilian vehicles, some T-72HDs were taken on by the ZSU to perform limited building demolition work. Designated as T-72 UZK, these militarized vehicles were fitted with cab cages to provide driver's with a degree of protection from falling debris. [5] This was a temporary affair as the ZSU preferred to leave such demo work to their better-protected IMR-80 AEVs.
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[1] K2UA tanks are a co-production with the Government of Poland. The K2UA combined Ukrainian parts with K2PL hulls and turrets built by PGZ in Poznan. Imported DV27K diesels and SNT EST15K gearboxes from Korea are also incorporated into the Ukrainian tanks. Visually, the K2UA can be distinguished from the K2PL by the former's RWS armed with a KT-12.7 (NSV) HMG.
[2] AT stands for Aktsionerne tovarystvo - the Ukrainian term for a Joint Stock Company.
[3] The ZSU's IMR-80 was a postwar T-80 series hull conversion. IMR stands for Inzhenerna Mashyna Rozhorodzhennya - the Ukrainian equivalent of an AEV. Along with German-supplied FFG Wisent 1s, the IMR-80s were the postwar ZSU's preferred demolition vehicles. (Superior AEV 3 Kodiak vehicles were reserved for purely military engineering work.)
[4] To Doosan AT, these 'turrets' are known as the DX72LC-0 or DX72LC-1. The key difference between them and the DX225LC series is the engine compartment. In the DX225LC track excavators, their 5.0L 6-cylinder DL06P diesel must also provide motive power. Since the T-72 already has a drive engine, the T-72HD's cab-mounted 1.8L DM01 3-cylinder turbo-diesel need only provide sufficient power to drive the hydraulic excavator arm, auxiliary take-offs, cab air conditioning, etc.
[5] Always regarded as interim vehicles, the T-72 UZK were never assigned an IMR designation. The UZK suffix stood for Ukrayins'ka Zakhyshchena Konstruktsiya or 'Ukrainian Protected Construction Vehicles'.
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