The Type 59 Durjoy is a highly modernized version of the Chinese

Type 59 tank The Type 59 (; industrial designation: WZ-120) main battle tank is a Chinese-produced version of the Soviet T-54A tank, an early model of the ubiquitous T-54/55 series. The first vehicles were produced in 1958 and it was accepted into service ...

for 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 ...

. The Bangladesh Army's old Type 59 tanks were upgraded similarly to Type 59G standard at ''902 Central Workshop'' of the

Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory Limited (BMTF) is a commercial automobile assembly plant of the Bangladesh Army. It mainly engaged to build and modify automobiles specially for defence industry. It is located at Gazipur, about 40 km from Dh ...

with Chinese assistance. Bangladesh Army renamed the tank as Durjoy ( bn, দুর্জয়).

History

Bangladesh is an active delta with hundreds of rivers and swamps, so its army needs armoured vehicles with limited weight but good protection, firepower and speed. Between the 1980s and the early 2000s, the army had hundreds of

s which stayed in service until 2015. The

decided to upgrade all the remaining functional tanks because the rebuilding process of a tank costs one third of buying a new one. During this process only the hull of the original tank is used and all the other aspects are upgraded. BMTF upgraded 174 type 59 tanks to Durjoy standard.

Description

The tank uses the basic Type 59 hull which is long, wide and has a height of . The tank weighs package. The Durjoy uses a

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 ...

and has a power to weight ratio of 17.4 hp per tonnes. The maximum speed of the vehicle varies: in fact the tank can run at max. The tanks range is . It is equipped with rubber padded tracks to navigate softer soils and swamps. The tank has five road wheels on each side with a prominent gap between the first and second road wheel. The track is driven by a drive sprocket at the rear, with an idler at the front. It is notable that there are no return rollers. The

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Suspension (topology), in mathematics * Suspension (dynamical systems), in mathematics * Suspension of a ring, in mathematics * Suspension (chemistry), small solid particles suspend ...

is a

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 ...

system. The engine exhaust is on the left fender. The Durjoy tanks require a crew of 4 people which includes commander, driver, gunner and loader. Unlike the basic Type 59, the Durjoy has an air conditioning system to increase crew comfort and complete

NBC protection Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defence (CBRN defence) are protective measures taken in situations in which chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear warfare (including terrorism) hazards may be present. CBRN defence consis ...

Protection

Bangladesh Army upgraded T-59G 'Durjoy' MBT

The primary protection system of the tank is made of a layer of thick steel modular composite armour. To increase protection against

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 ...

and

ATGM 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 ...

rounds, there is Chinese 3rd generation

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 ...

on the tank's front and turret. Besides, there is

cage armour Slat armor (or slat armour in British English), also known as bar armor, cage armor, and standoff armor, is a type of vehicle armor designed to protect against high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) attacks, as used by anti-tank guided missiles (ATG ...

at the back of the turret to increase the protection level. Smoke grenade launchers are fitted to each side of the turret. A collective

fire suppression system Fire suppression systems are used to extinguish, control, or in some cases, entirely prevent fires from spreading or occurring. Fire suppression systems have an incredibly large variety of applications, and as such, there are many different types ...

is added to increase the crew survivability rate. The tanks are equipped with a

laser warning receiver A laser warning receiver is a type of warning system used as a passive military defence. It detects, analyzes, and locates directions of laser emissionsPDF version4.53 MB) from laser guidance systems and laser rangefinders. Then it alerts the cre ...

to give a warning when it's targeted by an enemy

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 ...

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 ...

Armaments

The Durjoy tank has a 125 mm smoothbore gun which is the tank's primary weapon. The gun has a dual-axis

gun stabilizer A gun stabilizer is a device that facilitates aiming an artillery piece by compensating for the motion of the platform on which it is mounted. For naval applications see ship gun fire-control system. Moving land-based systems tend to require more s ...

which enables the tank to fire at a target while the tank is moving. This gun is capable of firing

and HE 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. The

used by Durjoy tank can penetrate 500mm RHA armor as far as 2 km away. As a secondary armament, it has a 12.7 mm

W85 heavy machine gun The W-85 heavy machine gun or QJC-88 vehicle mounted heavy machine gun is a gas-operated heavy machine gun designed in the People's Republic of China. It fires the Soviet-designed 12.7×108mm round. The W-85 was never accepted into the PLA servi ...

with 3000 rounds and a 7.62 mm Type 86

coaxial machine gun A weapon mount is an assembly or mechanism used to hold a weapon (typically a gun) onto a platform in order for it to function at maximum capacity. Weapon mounts can be broken down into two categories: static mounts and non-static mounts. Stat ...

with 550-600 rounds. The 12.7 mm machine gun can be used in an anti-aircraft role too. It also has 81mm

smoke grenade Smoke grenades used at demonstrations in Paris, 2008 upBritish L83A1 Smoke Grenade manufactured in May 2008. This grenade has already been used. A smoke grenade is a canister-type grenade used as a signaling device, target or landing zone mark ...

Electronics

The Durjoy uses a modern

fire-control system A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director, and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a ...

comparable to the fourth generation Chinese tanks. Its ballistic computer has an integrated

thermal imaging system A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...

and

. It also has an independent commander's sight. The Durjoy has a

night vision system A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD), night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The dev ...

and

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...

(GPS) navigation. Unlike a basic Type 59 tank, these tanks have a combat data link which gives them better

situational awareness Situational awareness or situation awareness (SA) is the perception of environmental elements and events with respect to time or space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their future status. An alternative definition is tha ...

. This tank uses ''XDZ-1 SATCOM'' and ''VRC-2000L'' radio contact systems for communication.

Operators

* **

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Equipment of the Bangladesh Army Post–Cold War main battle tanks Main battle tanks of Bangladesh Military vehicles introduced in the 2010s