1979年,韩国决定发展一种适合本国使用、性能优良的主战坦克。由于韩国从未自行研制过坦克,缺乏研制坦克的技术和工业基础,因此,韩国决定采取请外国公司试制、由本国公司生产的途径。 K—1坦克的出台韩国委托美国克莱斯勒公司军品部(现属通用动力公司)负责坦克设计与试制。1983年该公司制成2辆样车并称之为“大韩民国本土坦克”(ROKIT)。经试验表明,这2辆样车的性能可满足韩国 In 1979, South Korea decided to develop a main battle tank that is suitable for its own country and used for its excellent performance. Since South Korea had never developed its own tanks and lacked the technical and industrial base for developing tanks, South Korea decided to adopt a method for foreign companies to try out their products and produce them from their own companies. The introduction of K-1 tanks South Korea commissioned the United States Chrysler Military Division (now General Dynamics) is responsible for tank design and trial production. In 1983 the company made two prototypes and called it “ROKIT”. The test shows that the performance of these two vehicles to meet the South Korea