Pakistan defence companies have unveiled the models of its new armoured vehicles and tanks at the Arms and Security exhibition in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Pakistan’s Defence Export Promotion Organization and Heavy Industries Taxila have showcased its new military vehicles, special equipment, and Bulletproof vest at the exhibition in Ukraine.
Also were presented the models of Al-Khalid and Al-Zarrar tanks and Mohafiz Light armoured vehicle.
The Al-Khalid is a main battle tank jointly developed by Pakistan and China during the 1990s, based on the Chinese Type 90-IIM tank. The original prototype was developed by China North Industries Corporation (Norinco) under the name MBT-2000, and Norinco also offer the tank for export under that name. Around 310 Al Khalid MBTs had been produced by 2014.
The current production variant of the Al-Khalid uses a diesel engine and transmission supplied by the KMDB design bureau of Ukraine. The first production models entered service with the Pakistan Army in 2001. The country placed an order with Ukraine’s Engine design bureau to further upgrade the tanks with a new engine.
The Al-Zarrar is a second-generation main battle tank (MBT), currently in the services of the Pakistan Army since 2004. The tank is named as Al-Zarrar, which means “main striker” in Arabic and Persian languages. Designed, developed, and manufactured by the Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT), it features the 125mm smoothbore ammunition with chrome-plated gun barrel as its primary weapon, and can achieve its maximum speed of 65 km.
The Mohafiz is an internal security vehicle designed and manufactured at Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) in Pakistan based on the chassis of commercial vehicle. It is powered by a 4.2 litre diesel engine coupled to a manual transmission with five forward and one reverse gears and a two speed transfer case. If required, a more powerful 4.5 litre diesel engine could be installed to provide a higher power-to-weight ratio. Although the first example of the Mohafiz is based on a Toyota Land Cruiser chassis, it could also be built on other 4 × 4 chassis.
