The South Korean Army will deploy 600 wheeled armored vehicles from 2016 to help build rapid-response forces modeled after U.S. Stryker combat brigades, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).Go to DN to read the whole story, but I find it interesting that only now the S. Koreans are jumping on the wheeled bandwagon when it seems that the US Army is at the very least re-evaluating its position on them.
The arms agency announced Hyundai Rotem, a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Group, as the preferred bidder Nov. 26 to develop and produce those wheeled armored vehicles. The company beat a consortium of Samsung Techwin and Doosan DST.
“Hyundai Rotem will develop a couple of prototype vehicles with six and eight wheels by 2015 with investment of about 28 billion won ($26 million),” a DAPA spokesman said. “After field tests, the company will produce 600 vehicles in stages by 2020.”
Want proof? The US Army still hasn't decided to make all its Strykers Double Vee Hulled. Funding is still in doubt for the project, yet the Armored Multi-Purpose Vehicle (its going to be tracked) is full speed ahead.
I don't know what to make of this other than S. Korea putting these types of vehicles into service in order to prime the pump to sell them over seas.
Time will tell though.