Ok so I was curious what RENK could be interested in with Ukraine given Ukraine doesn’t have K2 tanks.
Well I googled “RENK t-72” and lo and behold RENK makes a powerpack and transmission for the t-72 tank series of tanks.
According to the official specifications, the Powerpack 350S system is intended for T-72, T-90, M-84, and PT-91 MBTs, as well as for the vehicles that have a combat weight of 40-55 t. It features a powershift transmission with eight speeds forward and four speeds reverse, an electronically controlled gearbox that can be used in either manual or fully automatic control mode, a generator drive, an air compressor drive, and a fan drive with fully digital speed control. The transmission of Powerpack 350S has a dry weight of 1,800 kg, while the DI16 engine has a dry weight of 1,340 kg.
This could point to a lot of things (IFV transmissions maybe? who knows), but it may point to the fact that Ukraine may be heavily upgrading t-72 tanks, one of the largest issues with the t-72 series of tanks is they have poor mobility in terms of engine power, especially reverse speeds. This would be a major upgrade to a t-72.
This driveline is the virtually unchanged for the T-90 which is considered as a modern tank but still uses two separate manual transmissions and the same old-fashioned steering system. The T-90 is equipped with a 1000 hp engine, but is no big leap forward in the mobility of the vehicle, as most of the 70’s design drawbacks persist: poor cooling system, slow manual gearboxes, difficult to handle for tired or inexperienced drivers, long vehicle downtime in case of repair, and a reliability which may fall below expectations.
But modern powerpacks for T-72/T-90 are now available. The French company SESM (member of the German group RENK, world leader in automatic transmission for tanks) offers a powerpack which improves drastically the mobility of the T-72/T-90 class. The powerpack fits into the existing chassis and only minor modifications are necessary on the inside. This way, the Powerpack is an option for new-production as well as for upgrade programs.
https://indiandefencereview.com/sesm-modern-powerpacks-for-t-72-and-t-90/
It might seem kind of silly, but the ability to reverse quickly in a tank can be the difference between life and death, it more often is than you might think, this would be good news for Ukrainian tankers!
This could be about any number of things, I just found that noteworthy.