Russia - threadbanned users in OP

KSTAM seems a waste of effort to me. Doesn't do anything that a BONUS type artillery round won't do better. Save the space in the tank for effects only a tank can provide. Maybe the Korean doctrinaires know something I don't, or that they have concerns about their artillery ranging certain targets in their terrain.

The cannon is not a copy of the German cannon, though it is designed to fire the NATO standard ammunition such as the German cannon uses. Germany would have no say on the matter of its export. With Poland making strides to create K2 manufacturing ability within their country, they are going to be well placed to be a center for future export to Europe, especially if the tank comes out well from the Norwegian trials against Leopard.

I'm OK with the West suggesting to Ukraine that they wait until their new Western-equipped brigade is trained up to use the equipment. It's not only a matter of which buttons to push, but a Bradley uses different tactics to a BMP, as you would expect since it has different capabilities despite both being categorized as IFVs. The new capabilities may allow for an entirely different way of fighting for Ukraine than they've been doing so far. As long as there is no disaster on the front requiring intervention, it may well prove to save more lives in the long run if a well-forged hammer smashes the opposition into pieces as opposed to bludgeoning a good sized dent.

Fascinating and long article (Google translate works very well) on how the German military ended up the disaster it currently is. (an "inspector" is a branch chief, such as Chief of Armor, Chief of Artillery,etc)

De Maizière abolished both staffs. Since then, the Defense Ministry has effectively been incapable of leadership. Germany is likely the only country in the world with a military that isn’t led by a general staff or a comparable military body. Should a crisis arise, officials would first have to call around to determine who was going to take charge.

The inspectors were ousted from the ministry and shunted off to the commands of the individual branches of the armed forces. And even there, they no longer have much of a say – not even over the use of their unit’s equipment. That responsibility lies with the Bundeswehr's procurement authority in the city of Koblenz. When the chancellor decides to contribute a Patriot anti-aircraft battery to Ukraine, the air force inspector is lucky if he doesn't find out about it from the newspapers. He and his counterparts in other branches of the military are anyway rarely asked for their advice, unless they thrust themselves into the debate.

As one interviewee noted the other day, the fact that the German defense ministry as of a couple days ago doesn't know how many tanks it has available and needs to undertake a survey is in itself a damning indictment of how far the German military has fallen.