HIT Al-Khalid
Notes: Also called the MBT-2000 (particularly during development), the Al-Khalid is touted as Pakistans first indigenous tank design, but is believed to incorporate much of its design from Type 90-IIs, Type 85s, and some other equipment supplied by China for analysis. Regardless of the origins of the Al-Khalid, it is essentially vehicle dissimilar enough to other tanks to be considered a new design, if not a completely independent one. The Al-Khalid was developed over the period from 1990-99, with production and fielding beginning in 2001. Most Western observers agree that the Al-Khalid is a surprisingly modern and effective design. Some 300 are in service with Pakistan, and they intend to being that total to 600. In addition, 22 Al-Khalids started being delivered to the Bangladeshi Army beginning in May 2008, and the Saudis are reportedly giving the Al-Khalid a hard look to supplement their M-1A2 Abrams tanks.
The design places the driver in the center front of the hull; he has a hatch which opens slightly upwards and to the left as to not interfere with turret rotation if the hatch is open. He has vision blocks giving him views to the right, left, and front; the frontal vision block can be replaced with an IR vision block. The gunner has his own hatch, as the Al-Khalid uses an autoloader instead of a loader crewmember, and has vision blocks that allow vision to the front, rear, and right side. The gunner is equipped with a full night vision suite, including a 2nd-generation thermal imager developed by France. The gunner also has an image intensification scope and a conventional telescopic sight; all of which are stabilized. The commander has his own thermal imager, image intensifier, and conventional telescopic sight, in a separate sensor head that gives the Al-Khalid a hunter-killer capability. The commander also has emergency controls for the main gun and coaxial machinegun. The Al-Khalid has a ballistic computer of French design, along with a laser designator of Chinese design.
The main gun is a version of the Chinese ZPT-98 gun, though the barrel has a length of 48 calibers. The gun is fed by an autoloader that has a capacity of 24 rounds, with additional ammunition being stored in the hull of the Al-Khalid. In addition to being able to fire indigenous and foreign 125mm rounds, the gun can also fire a Chinese license-produced version of 9M119 Reflecks (AT-11 Sniper) gun-launched ATGM. The autoloader is improved over that of the Al-Zarrar, able to handle newer long-rod penetrators. (ATGM rounds must be hand-loaded.) The laser rangefinder acts as a designator when the 9M119 ATGM is fired. The commanders machinegun can be aimed and fired from under armor. On each side of the turret is a cluster of five smoke grenade launchers. The Al-Kalid has a feature found in most of the newest generation of tanks: a battle management system called Rabhar by the Pakistanis. This is a computerized system that not only monitors the state of the tank and feeds the appropriate information to the crew, but also plots the location of enemy and friendly units and keeps them updated as new information becomes available. It also passes orders from higher headquarters down and allows the commander to give orders to subordinate units, as well as providing any other intelligence and information the commander may require. This system also has GPS, with inertial navigation as a backup. The tanks electronic systems are connected to large batteries for "silent watch" use.
In development, the Al-Khalid was powered by an MTU-396 diesel engine with a German LSG-3000 transmission. Germany placed an embargo on these items in the mid-1990s due to their stance on development of indigenous nuclear weapons, and this led to the Pakistanis fitting the Al-Khalid with a license-produced Ukrainian KMDB 6TD-2 1200-horsepower engine and a French SESM ESM-500 fully-automatic transmission. This engine had the virtue of being smaller than the German engine, yet provided the same 1200 horsepower. The Al-Khalid can carry auxiliary fuel tanks at the rear a la Russian/Chinese tanks, though in practice they are little used except in long road marches.
Armor protection is modular, allowing for quick battle damage repairs and improvement as more advanced armor becomes available or heavier armor is desired. Frontal armor is composite and of Pakistani design, with side armor being spaced; it is of a more modern design than that on the Al-Zarrar and lighter in weight. The turret front, turret sides, glacis, and hull sides have lugs for ERA. Attention was paid to land mine damage in the form of thickened floor armor. The ammunition is carried in armored bins, and virtually the entire vehicle has thick Kevlar anti-spalling blankets. The engine also has a thick bulkhead separating it from the crew compartment. An automatic explosion and fire suppression system is provided, and the crew has an NBC overpressure system; the engine compartment and ammunition bins have their own systems of the same sort. The Al-Khalid has a laser detection system that can automatically trigger smoke grenades to block the laser, and a radar warning system that can give the crew a chance to take evasive action.
Pakistani Tanks
