First Al-Khalid 1 unit formed

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

Congradulations on the achivement

However the Engine needs to be manufactured locally this issue has remained with us since 1990's, staring to really feel like Achiles heel for Army / Navy / Airforce

I don't feel afraid to criticize what needs to be openly pointed out

As a comparison, during world war 2 , 1-3 Million Jeeps were manufactured after the war started , here we are dependent on engine for all critical items

 

[Cool_Soldier]

Nice to see this development.
So
Alkhalid Tank- 300 production ends
Alkhalid 1 Tank-21 produced and 110 to be produced= 131
Alkhalid 2 Tank= 200 are planned to be produced in near future

Altogether Alkhalid Class tank would be= 300+131+200 + 631 approximately

Then Al-hyder Project is also being anayded, at the moment it is not clear what it would be
Option could be licenced produced OR co co produced with some friendly country such as China Type 99-II, Turkey's Altay Tank OR Ukranian new generation Tank.But High likely former two would come.

 

[Gryphon]

 

[Cool_Soldier]

lovely video

 

[Wolf]

I don't know why you guys are such a big fan of Altay. The damn things doesn't even have an engine. AK has been in service over a decade and a half. And what do you mean guts? This not a school yard fight between two kids where "guts" are needed. Guts don't picture into large scale engineering projects.

Who is talking about engine?
It has been 25 years since first Al Khalid rolled out in 92. How many do you have? 330? If it is such a beast, then why every now and then you are inspecting Ukrainian, Chinese, Russian, Turkish etc. tanks

 

[IceCold]

The first unit of Al-Khalid 1 was formed in early 2015 and includes small batch production (SBP) tanks.

Demonstration of Al-Khalid 1 MBT was witnessed by Gen. Raheel Sharif last year. The tank has additional armour (armour plates) on the sides of the turret.

There was a thread somewhere i think Ideas where it was mentioned that army wanted a lot of thing in the upgraded variant but latter due to financial constraints, corners were cut and alot of the planned improvements were shelved. Can you shed some light on that as well and also if their are plans to incorporate them at some latter stage?

 

[Hassan Guy]

Al-Khalid is a fantastic Pakistani developed Tank.

 

[CHACHA"G"]

Good to see development and improvement in AK program........ I am more happy on realization of truth about current geopolitical situations (environment) and threats of modern war (cold start or hot start).
Nasar Missile brings more troubles then solutions . Its the truth u like it or not . International community don't see things how we do , and we failed our case in front of them . Thanks to Govts of all times.
On military side , As I said before PA need Tanks , Modern , Advance and 50+T weight . At least 2000 . It will be good to see 700+ AK (altogether) with 300+ upgraded T-80s with 500+ AH (for AH programme my guess is T-84 Op) total 1500+ 50T tanks and for heavy tank we may go for China or Turkey , but we will only buy off the shelf product with some improvement according to our need and requirements.
To counter Indian Armour Attack , We have to upgrade and add numbers in our Armour , For that we also can Improve and upgrade ourLahore and Gujranwala Corps .
Personally I will say , we have AK (Chines Tank) now we have to go for T-84 with Modern western Tech , help from Turkey will be great for both , AK and AH programs.

 

[khanasifm]

A tank battalion consists of or used to be 44 tanks 11 in each squadron, so 3 sqns plus hq sqn. 21 tank unit ??? not sure what it means may be just first batch

 

[Motiur Rehman]

Great news.

 

[Gryphon]

However the Engine needs to be manufactured locally this issue has remained with us since 1990's, staring to really feel like Achiles heel for Army / Navy / Airforce

Ukraine and Pakistan Agrees on MBT Engine | en.c4defence.com

There was a thread somewhere i think Ideas where it was mentioned that army wanted a lot of thing in the upgraded variant but latter due to financial constraints, corners were cut and alot of the planned improvements were shelved. Can you shed some light on that as well and also if their are plans to incorporate them at some latter stage?

Al-Khalid 1 was never planned as a major upgrade.

 

[fatman17]

Why is Al Khalid production so slow?
Only 330 produced till date.

budget allocations for one, procured in batches of 50 and then continuous upgrades. original requirement is for 1200 AKs, whether we achieve that or not is a good Q.

 

[Gryphon]

A tank battalion consists of or used to be 44 tanks 11 in each squadron, so 3 sqns plus hq sqn. 21 tank unit ??? not sure what it means may be just first batch

It varies from 40-46. Two units make one tank battalion.

Oplot-M test in Pakistan

Tank T-84 BM Oplot during the comparative military trials in Pakistan in 2016.

The Oplot MBT in Pakistan

The Chinese MBT-3000, supposedly tested in Pakistan alongside the Oplot.

 

[Gryphon]

@IceCold

Were you referring to this article ?


HIT reveals new information on Al Khalid-I MBT

Daksg Nakra, Kuala Lumpur - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
22 April 2014

Officials from Pakistan's Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) disclosed new information about the greatly anticipated Al Khalid-Improved (I) main battle tank (MBT) during the recent DSA 2014 exhibition held in Kuala Lumpur.

Brigadier Ghulam Murtaza Qureshi (rtd), HIT's director of budget, marketing and procurement, told IHS Jane's that the development is being fast-tracked and the company plans to showcase the tank during the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar 2014 (IDEAS 2014) in Islamabad in December.

The development of the new MBT began earlier in the decade and Qureshi said it is around 50% complete. Some reports suggested it was being co-developed with China's NORINCO and was a version of China's MBT-3000.

Qureshi claimed this was incorrect and that the Al Khalid-I is an indigenous development of Pakistan's mainstay tank, the Al Khalid, which was jointly developed in the early 1990s with NORINCO (known in China as the MBT-2000) and commissioned in 2001.

The Pakistan Army's Armoured Corps operates about 420 Al Khalid MBTs, along with Al Zarrar (Type 59/59M), Type 69, Type 85 IIAP and T-80UD tanks. The Al Khalid-I will replace approximately 300 Type 85s and 320 T-80s, which are known to operate in semi-desert and desert areas of the country.

The existing Al Khalid is powered by a Ukrainian 6TD-2 power pack developing a maximum power of 1,200 bhp. It also features integrated battle management, auto transmission control, muzzle reference and active threat protection systems.

Qureshi added that the design concept of the Al Khalid-I is primarily based on further refining and improving mobility, firepower and protection. Initially, the design featured around 10 major changes over the Al Khalid hull, but due to rising costs and budgetary constraints, this has been reduced to six.

These include a new 1,500 bhp power pack to improve its power-to-weight ratio and a digital driver manual. The HIT official confirmed that it would retain the 125 mm smoothbore barrel. As of April 2014, trials are under way to finalise the new power pack. These details concur with comments at IDEAS 2012 by a senior official at Pakistan's Ministry of Defence Procurement who told said that an improved version would feature a more powerful diesel power pack, improved command and control and better night-fighting capabilities.

HIT plans to complete trials of the Al Khalid-I with the Pakistani Army by the first quarter of 2015 and based on results, it is hoping to achieve low rate initial production by June 2015. HIT currently has the capability to roll out 20-40 Al Khalid MBTs a year, suggesting it will look to achieve a similar production schedule for the improved version.

(435 words)

 

[IceCold]

Were you referring to this article ?

Yes this is the one. The important bit:

Qureshi added that the design concept of the Al Khalid-I is primarily based on further refining and improving mobility, firepower and protection. Initially, the design featured around 10 major changes over the Al Khalid hull, but due to rising costs and budgetary constraints, this has been reduced to six.

Do we plan on including the remaining 4 at latter stage or will this be the final version till a new tank comes in?