Courtesy of HIT- Al-Zarrar

[Tin Man]

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Wiki article....sorry =/

Al-Zarrar MBT

The Al-Zarrar is a modern MBT (main battle tank) developed and manufactured by Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) of Pakistan for the Pakistan Army.



A re-built, upgraded variant of the Chinese Type 59 tank, Al-Zarrar is supposed to be a cost-effective replacement for the Type 59 fleet of the Pakistan Army. Equipped with modern armament, fire control and ballistic protection, the Al-Zarrar upgrade is also offered by HIT to the armies of foreign countries to upgrade their T-54/T-55 or Type 59 tanks to Al-Zarrar standard. 54 modifications made to the Type 59 make the Al-Zarrar effectively a new tank.
The Al-Zarrar development programme started in 1990 and the first batch of 80 upgraded tanks were delivered to the Pakistan Army on 26 February 2004.

Armament and fire-control


Al-Zarrar's primary armament is a 125 mm smoothbore tank gun with an autofrettaged, chrome-plated gun barrel. It is capable of firing APFSDS, HEAT-FS and HE-FS rounds as well as anti-tank guided missiles and a Pakistani DU (depleted uranium) round, the 125 mm Naiza. Naiza is capable of penetrating 550 mm of RHA armour at a distance of 2 km. Reloaded by a semi-automatic autoloader, the gun has a dual-axis stabilisation system and thermal imaging sights for the commander and gunner. integrated into the fire-control system. The image stabilised fire-control system includes a laser range-finder for accurate range information and ballistics computer to improve accuracy.An improved gun control system is also fitted.
The secondary armament consists of an external 12.7 mm anti-aircraft machine gun mounted on the roof of the turret, which can be aimed and fired from inside the tank, and a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun.


Mobility

The Al-Zarrar is powered by a liquid-cooled 12 cylinder diesel engine, giving a power output of 730 hp and torque output of 305 kg.m at 1300-1400rpm. A combat weight of 40 tonnes gives Al-Zarrar a power to weight ratio of 18.3 hp/tonne and a top speed of 65 km/h. Crew comfort is improved over the Type 59 by a modified torsion bar suspension system.

[ProtectionAl-Zarrar uses modular composite armour and explosive reactive armour to give improved protection from anti-tank missiles, mines and other weapons. The Pakistani ATCOP LTS-1 laser threat warning system is fitted to inform the tank crew if the tank is targeted by a laser range-finder or laser designator. Smoke grenade launchers are fitted to the sides of the turret. An automatic fire-extinguishing and explosion suppression system is installed to improve crew survivability.

[graphican]

[sohailbarki]

[Last Hope]

Al Zarrar has been made for war in Punjab, because of its boggy plains, where Al Khalid would be trapped.

[sohailbarki]

Personally i like this picture of Al Zarrar

[Last Hope]

In the first picture, where is it?
You can see a couple of Shaheen Is standing!

[maverick1977]

Frankly speaking, Pakistan needs to develop ammo which can penetrate 650mm+ thick armor along with a range of 90%+ first hit probability till the range of 4kms... thats will be the only way to fight next generation tanks.

i

[Ababeel]

Personally i like this picture of Al Zarrar

Is it Al Zarrar or Al Khalid????????

[Last Hope]

Is it Al Zarrar or Al Khalid????????

Its al Zarrar.............

[umed nau]

In the first picture, where is it?
You can see a couple of Shaheen Is standing!

karachi expo centre..

[Penguin]

Personally i like this picture of Al Zarrar

Unfortunately, it is not Al Zarrar at all. Nor is it Al Khalid. Rather it is the chinese Type 90-II, on which Al Khalid is based.
http://www.sinodefence.com/army/tank/type90.asp

[nightcrawler]

It has got laser early warning system; but what about RPG attacks(~thy don't laser designate). I believe that today antitank weapons are quiet dangerous & must be destroyed(via Iron dome likes) rather than being eluded( via smoke grenades)

[nightcrawler]

Autofrettage explained in simplified steps:

1. When autofrettage is used for strengthening cannon barrels, the barrel is prebored to a slightly undersized inside diameter, and then a slightly oversized die is pushed through the barrel. The amount of initial underbore and size of the die are calculated to strain the material past its elastic limit into plastic deformation, sufficiently far that the final strained diameter is the final desired bore.
2. Although the outer layers of the tube are also stretched the degree of internal pressure applied during the process is such that they are not stretched beyond their elastic limit
3. Because the outer layers remain elastic they attempt to return to their original shape; however, they are prevented from doing so completely by the now permanently stretched inner layers. The effect is that the inner layers of the metal are put under compression by the outer layers in much the same way as though an outer layer of metal had been shrunk on
4. The next step is to subject the strained inner layers to low temperature heat treatment which results in the elastic limit being raised to at least the autofrettage pressure employed in the first stage of the process. Finally the elasticity of the barrel can be tested by applying internal pressure once more, but this time care is taken to ensure that the inner layers are not stretched beyond their new elastic limit.

[PakShaheen79]

Frankly speaking, Pakistan needs to develop ammo which can penetrate 650mm+ thick armor along with a range of 90%+ first hit probability till the range of 4kms... thats will be the only way to fight next generation tanks.

Fair enough, but at the same time we must keep in mind that Al-Zarar has been built to replace T-59. It is just like JF-17 Thunder which is not frontline fighter for PAF but would replace all oldies in PAF fleet, same way, AK and AK-II would take burden of being on the front line MBTs for PA.

[WAQAS119]

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Why not Pakistan go for heavy tanks like leopard 2 etc?? Together with mobility of AlKhalid we need power of Leopard 2!