Korea Competing With France for Tank Exports to Turkey: Gov't

, Korea is competing with France in a bid to supply its recently developed XK2 tank to Turkey, a government source said Sunday (March 4). 
 
“Korea and France have been engaging in a fierce competition to export their tanks to Turkey which is pushing for a next-generation tank project,” said the source. “Chances are very high that Korea could win the bid as Turkey's army and defense industry trust our technologies more than those of France,” the source added. 
 
The XK2, Korea's first domestically-made battle tank that will be deployed in 2011 to replace the country's K1 and M47/48 tanks, was unveiled on Friday. It has an automatically loadable 120-mm cannon and is capable of crossing shallow rivers. 
 
Turkey plans to select one of its domestic companies to lead the next-generation tank project in March or April, and that [country] will reportedly choose a supplier from South Korea or France the next month. 
 
Korea sent officials of the country's Agency for Defense Development, the developer of the new tank, to Turkey several times to explain the XK2's price and capabilities, and got positive responses from the country, the source said. 
 
Korea's defense minister will meet with high-level Turkish defense officials to discuss ways of exporting the tank during his visit to the country from Tuesday to Saturday, the source said.