Donghae D1725
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The Donghae D1725 is a family of mid-size four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle designed in Menghe by the Donghae Auto Corporation, part of the Donghae Group. It is sold on both the military and the civilian markets. In its civilian form, it is sold as a luxury SUV, though most sales are made to police and park security departments. In the armed forces, it serves as a military light utility vehicle and staff car, primarily in non-combat roles.
History
The D1725 was designed in the 1990s as a private venture by the Donghae Auto Corporation, which was a fully corporatized state-owned enterprise at the time. The first production models left Donghae's Anchŏn factory in 1998, the same year that Donghae was reclassified as a semi-private Jachi-hoesa enterprise.
Donghae's design team were ostensibly interested in selling the vehicle on the civilian market, but also hoped to sell to police and military customers, and consequently stressed ruggedness and offroad performance. Yet because Menghe's military budget had stagnated since the aftermath of the Decembrist Revolution, the Ministry of National Defense had no immediate interest in a replacement for the Chŏnsŏ G242, which its procurement staff considered generally adequate. After combat in the Polvokian Civil War revealed shortcomings with the G242, the Menghean Army ordered a small batch of offroad utility vehicles for testing and evaluation, but the D1975's lack of armor undercut its usefulness compared with the Chŏnsŏ J107. In the end, the first military buyer of the D1725 was Polvokia, which placed an order in 2002 to equip its border forces.
Menghean military interest in the D1725 resumed in 2004, this time motivated by the need for a light staff car. The Chŏnsŏ J107, then nearing the end of its development process, was deemed too heavy and expensive for non-combat roles, but the D1725 already met the Menghean Army's main requirements for a non-combat G242 replacement.
The breakdown of relations with Maverica in 2005 accelerated the procurement process, with the Menghean Army ordering a large batch of combat-model D1725s as a stopgap measure to equip new light infantry units on the border. Ummayah's postwar government also negotiated a contract for the sale of combat-model D1725s, further boosting sales. The vehicle's lack of armor and small size, however, limited its usefulness in combat roles, and in the end it was mostly relegated to non-combat roles, including casualty evacuation, officer transport, and military police duties.
