The Type 59G Durjoy, sometimes known as Type 59G, 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 servic ...

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 defend the land of Bangladesh from any external attack. Control of personnel and operations is ad ...

. 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 enterprise run under the management of Bangladesh Army. It has 19 dynamic factories engaged in manufacturing a total of 566 products. It is located at Gazipur, about 40 km from D ...

with Chinese assistance. The Bangladesh Army renamed the tank as Durjoy ().

History

The Bangladeshi Army required 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 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 ...

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. Also there are return rollers which was not present on the original type-59. The

suspension Suspension or suspended may refer to: Science and engineering * Car suspension * Cell suspension or suspension culture, in biology * Guarded suspension, a software design pattern in concurrent programming suspending a method call and the calling ...

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 ...

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 defense (CBRN defense) or Nuclear, biological, and chemical protection (NBC protection) is a class of protective measures taken in situations where chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclea ...

Protection

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 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 ...

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 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 ...

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 (ATGM ...

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 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 crew and can ...

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

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 ...

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 ...

Armaments

The Durjoy tank has a 125 mm

smoothbore gun 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. T ...

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 ...

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 shoulde ...

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 W85 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 W85 was never accepted into the PLA servic ...

with 3000 rounds and a 7.62 mm Type 86

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

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 A smoke grenade is a canister-type grenade used as a signaling device, target or landing zone marking device, or as a screening device for unit movements. Smoke grenades are generally more complex and emit a far larger amount of smoke than sm ...

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 hum ...

comparable to the fourth generation Chinese tanks. Its ballistic computer has an integrated thermal imaging system and

. It also has an independent commander's sight. The Durjoy has a night vision system and

Global Positioning System The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide ge ...

(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, often abbreviated as SA is the understanding of an environment, its elements, and how it changes with respect to time or other factors. It is also defined as the perception of the elements in the envi ...

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

Operators

: *

: 15 Type-59Gs in service as of 2023

References

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