The Al-Zarrar (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

third generation Third generation may refer to: * ''Third Generation'' (album), a 1982 album by Hiroshima * ''The Third Generation'' (1920 film), an American drama film directed by Henry Kolker * ''The Third Generation'' (1979 film), a West German black comedy b ...

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank, is a tank that fills the role of armor-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more powerful engines, better suspension sys ...

(MBT), currently in the services of the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the Army, land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the partition of India, Partition of British India, wh ...

since 2004. The tank is named after Muslim warrior Zarrar bin Al-Azwar. It is a highly upgraded version of Pakistan's ageing Chinese Type 59 tanks (a design that in turn was based on the Soviet

T-54A The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced in the years following the World War II, Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Mai ...

from the mid-1950s), developed with Ukrainian assistance and manufactured by the

Heavy Industries Taxila Heavy Industries Taxila (Reporting name: HIT), ( ur, ) is a Pakistani state-owned defence, military contractor, engineering conglomerate, and military corporation located in Taxila, Punjab, Pakistan.Al-Zarrar tank is a modified version of Tank T-59
GlobalSecurity.org website, Retrieved 2 October 2021 Although the upgrade program started in 1990 the Al-Zarrar did not enter military service with the

Pakistan Army Armoured Corps The Armoured Corps ( ur, ﺁرمرڈ كور) of the Pakistan Army is a combat branch tasked with armoured warfare. Equipped with more than 3,742 main battle tanks, the corps is headquartered in the garrison town of Nowshera, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Th ...

until 2004, gradually replacing the Type 59s. Attempts were made to export the Al-Zarrar to the

Bangladesh Army The Bangladesh Army is the land warfare branch and the largest component of the Bangladesh Armed Forces. The primary mission of the Army is to provide necessary forces and capabilities to deliver the Bangladeshi government's security and def ...

in 2008 to replace its massive fleet of Type 59 tanks through the

technology transfer Technology transfer (TT), also called transfer of technology (TOT), is the process of transferring (disseminating) technology from the person or organization that owns or holds it to another person or organization, in an attempt to transform invent ...

. However, Bangladesh Army later upgraded its Type-59 tanks to

Type 59 Durjoy The Type 59 Durjoy is a highly modernized version of the Chinese Type 59 tank for the Bangladesh Army. The Bangladesh Army's old Type 59 tanks were upgraded similarly to Type 59G standard at ''902 Central Workshop'' of the Bangladesh Machine To ...

, Pakistan Army remained its sole operator.

History

It was decided by the

that their inventory of Chinese origin Type 59 tanks was too large to be discarded and replaced, so a phased upgrade programme was started by Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) in 1990. The idea was to upgrade the firepower, mobility and protection of the Type 59 to allow it to compete on the modern battlefield at a fraction of the cost of a modern main battle tank (MBT). The first phase of the upgrade programme was completed in 1997. The second phase started in 1998 when HIT began development and testing of a new tank, a Type 59 re-built with over 50 modifications, resulting in three prototypes with slightly differing specifications (different fire-control systems, for example). Many systems originally developed for HIT's

Al-Khalid The Al-Khalid ( ur, —, literally "The Eternal Tank") is a Pakistani main battle tank developed by Heavy Industries Taxila since the 1990s. It is based on the Chinese Type 90-IIM tan, whose original prototype was developed by China North ...

MBT were incorporated. The prototypes underwent extensive testing by HIT and the Pakistan Army, who selected the final version of the tank, dubbed Al-Zarrar. By mid 2004, it was expected that 50 AL-Zarrar tanks would be exported to other countries. The Al-Zarrar is a modern MBT developed and manufactured by HIT of Pakistan for the Pakistan Army. An upgraded variant of the Chinese Type 59 tank, the Al-Zarrar is cost-effective modern replacement for the Type 59 fleet of the Pakistan Army. Equipped with modern

armament A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...

fire control Fire control is the practice of reducing the heat output of a fire, reducing the area over which the fire exists, or suppressing or extinguishing the fire by depriving it of fuel, oxygen, or heat (see fire triangle). Fire prevention and control ...

and ballistic protection, the Al-Zarrar upgrade is also offered by HIT to the armies of foreign countries to upgrade their

T-54 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced in the years following the World War II, Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Mai ...

T-55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet main battle tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks ...

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. HIT began mass production of Al-Zarrar on 6 May 2003 under a renowned project manager, Engineer Mahmood Khan. The first batch of 88 Al-Zarrars were delivered to the Pakistan Army on 26 February 2004 and General

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of the ...

attended the delivery ceremony.80 Al-Zarrar tanks handed over to army
Dawn (newspaper), Published 27 February 2004, Retrieved 2 October 2021

Design

Armament and fire-control

Al-Zarrar's primary armament is a 125 mm

smoothbore A smoothbore weapon is one that has a barrel without rifling. Smoothbores range from handheld firearms to powerful tank guns and large artillery mortars. History Early firearms had smoothly bored barrels that fired projectiles without signi ...

tank gun A tank gun is the main armament of a tank. Modern tank guns are high-velocity, large-caliber artilleries capable of firing kinetic energy penetrators, high-explosive anti-tank, and cannon-launched guided projectiles. Anti-aircraft guns can also ...

with an

autofrettage Autofrettage is a work hardening process in which a pressure vessel (thick walled) is subjected to enormous pressure, causing internal portions of the part to yield plastically, resulting in internal compressive residual stresses once the pressu ...

d, chrome-plated gun barrel. It is a Chinese non-licensed clone of 2A46 capable of firing

APFSDS Armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS), long dart penetrator, or simply dart ammunition, is a type of kinetic energy penetrator ammunition used to attack modern vehicle armour. As an armament for main battle tanks, it succeeds A ...

HEAT In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is al ...

-FS and HE-FS rounds as well as

anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder ...

s 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. The gun has a dual-axis stabilization system and thermal imaging sights integrated into the fire-control system for the commander and gunner, giving it enhanced night-time target acquisition capabilities. The image stabilized fire-control system includes a

laser range-finder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by sending a laser pulse in ...

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 In geometry, coaxial means that several three-dimensional linear or planar forms share a common axis. The two-dimensional analog is ''concentric''. Common examples: A coaxial cable is a three-dimensional linear structure. It has a wire conduc ...

machine gun.

Mobility

The Al-Zarrar is powered by a liquid-cooled 12-cylinder, 580 horsepower

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

, giving a power output of and torque output of 305 kg.m at 1300–1400 rpm. A combat weight of 40 tonnes gives Al-Zarrar a

power-to-weight ratio Power-to-weight ratio (PWR, also called specific power, or power-to-mass ratio) is a calculation commonly applied to engines and mobile power sources to enable the comparison of one unit or design to another. Power-to-weight ratio is a measuremen ...

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 A torsion bar suspension, also known as a torsion spring suspension, is any vehicle suspension that uses a torsion bar as its main weight-bearing spring. One end of a long metal bar is attached firmly to the vehicle chassis; the opposite end termi ...

suspension system.

Protection

Al-Zarrar uses modular composite armour and

explosive reactive armour Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected. It is most effective in protecting against shaped charges and specially hardened kinetic ener ...

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 designator A laser designator is a laser light source which is used to designate a target. Laser designators provide targeting for laser-guided bombs, missiles, or precision artillery munitions, such as the Paveway series of bombs, AGM-114 Hellfire, or ...

. 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.

Operators

Current operators

* ** Pakistan Army: 750 in service. In 2018, in light of the recent history of conflict between India and Pakistan and with an ongoing vigorous campaign to modernize Indian Army and its armaments, Pakistani defence authorities also felt the need to develop a new, more modern main battle tank.

References

External links

Heavy Metal - Pakistani AFVs, by Usman Ansari

{{Military of Pakistan Main battle tanks of the Cold War Main battle tanks of Pakistan Post–Cold War main battle tanks Tanks of Pakistan China–Pakistan military relations Military vehicles introduced in the 2000s