The Al-Zarrar (

Urdu Urdu (; , , ) is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in South Asia. It is the Languages of Pakistan, national language and ''lingua franca'' of Pakistan. In India, it is an Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of Indi ...

: الضرار), is a

second generation Second generation or variants may refer to: * Second generation immigrant ** Nisei, one of the second generation of people of Japanese descent in the Americas * Second generation of Chinese leaders, see Generations of Chinese leadership * Second-ge ...

main battle tank A main battle tank (MBT), also known as a battle tank or universal tank or simply tank,Ogorkiewicz 2018 p222 is a tank that fills the role of armour-protected direct fire and maneuver in many modern armies. Cold War-era development of more po ...

(MBT), currently in the services of the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

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 T-54A may refer to: * T-54A tank, a variant of the T-54 main battle tank *Textron T-54A, a U.S. Navy version of the Beechcraft Super King Air The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by Beechc ...

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

Heavy Industries Taxila Heavy Industries Taxila (Reporting name: HIT), () is a Pakistani state-owned enterprise and defense contractor working under the Ministry of Defence Production, located in Taxila (modern), Taxila, Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab.

(HIT) – the hub of Pakistani tanks and tracked vehicles, featuring a 125 mm smoothbore gun as primary weapon. The Al-Zarrar can achieve a maximum speed of per hour, weighs around 44 tons and has a four-man crew: commander, gunner, loader and driver.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 Pakistan Army Armoured Corps is a military administrative and combined arms service branch of the Pakistan Army. Headquartered in Nowshera, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, the corps is commanded by its director-general, Major-General Zafar ...

until 2004, gradually replacing the Type 59s. It is the most plentiful tank in Pakistan's arsenal, with over 500 units in service and an additional 600 Type-59s to be upgraded. 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 defend the land of Bangladesh from any external attack. Control of personnel and operations is ad ...

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 59G Durjoy, sometimes known as Type 59G, 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 Worksho ...

, 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/VT-1A (—, , ) is a main battle tank family developed jointly by Norinco of China and Heavy Industries Taxila of Pakistan. The tank is based on the Type 90-II tank. Around 310 Al-Khalid MBTs had been produced by 2014. The tank ...

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 is 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 (e.g., murder), law e ...

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 medium 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 1944–2 ...

T-55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet medium 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 1944–2 ...

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 Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...

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. Some examples of smoothbore weapons are muskets, blunderbusses, and flintlock pistols. ...

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 plastic yield, yield plastically, resulting in internal compressive residual stresses ...

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

2A46 The 2A46 (also called D-81TM) is a 125 mm/L48 smoothbore cannon of Soviet origin used in several main battle tanks. It was designed by OKB-9 (Artillery Plant No. 9) in Yekaterinburg. Description It was developed by the Spetstekhnika Design ...

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 arm ...

HEAT In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, ato ...

-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 shoulde ...

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 or laser distance meter, 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 ...

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 has a wire conductor in the centre (D), a circumferential ou ...

machine gun.

Mobility

The Al-Zarrar is powered by an upgraded version of the Type-59's original liquid-cooled 12-cylinder

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

, boosting the power output from 580 horsepower to 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 measurement ...

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 ...

suspension system.

Protection

Al-Zarrar uses modular composite armour and

explosive reactive armour Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour used in protecting vehicles, especially modern tanks, against shaped charges and hardened kinetic energy penetrators. The most common type is ''explosive reactive armour'' (ERA), but variants include ...

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 ...

. 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: 500 in service.

References

External links

Heavy Metal - Pakistani AFVs, by Usman Ansari

{{T-54/T-55_navigation, style=wide 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