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Slow down buddy...
- It is not Iranian main MBT nor the current or latest design in Iran
- It is not a WW3 era MBT... It is in fact a modern tank considering its targeting and armor upgrades,,,
This tank is called "Tiam" and has a story behind:
Iran had acquired many American M47-M Pattons back in Shah era. Current users of this tank are Iran and Spain. Then after the revolution and Iran-Iraq war the army decided to upgrade the existing estimated 160 M47 tanks. This resulted into an upgraded M47-M called "Sabalan MBT.
Sabalan MBT: An Iranian upgraded version of the US M47M, It has side skirts and a newly built turret fitted with a 105-mm gun, laser range finder, new fire control system and communication equipment. The number of Sabalans is estimated at around 68 - 70 units.
The upgrade covers a new turret, a stronger 105 mm gun instead of its original 90mm gun, laser range finder, new fire control system, 360 degree rotation freedom, highly increased range from original 160 km to current 500 km,
Then again the army felt the need to perform another upgrade on the existing Sabalans and M47s. This new upgrade is called "Tiam MBT" and has new features including a reactive armor system to be protected against anti-armor missiles. This Tiam is not a super project and is only an attempt to make current fleet more adaptive to current battle environments.
Is it wise to do so?
Of course it is. Iran already has hundreds of older models of tanks, could be easily used to serve resistant axis fights through out the region. These tanks are better to be used against Takfiri terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria than sending them to cemetaries,,, It is very cheap for Iran to perform these kind of upgrades...so why not?
For those who talk like it is Iranian latest Tank and Armor products and then again try to give a fake impression that Iranian tanks and armored vehicles are not good and Iran needs to ask for help as others do!!
Iran has learnt a lot about all sorts of weaponry including Tanks... Iran has already made T-72Ss under license (Iran made over 500 of them)...
Iran upgraded lots of Chieftains had in stock by producing an upgraded version of it with modern features called "Mobarez"....
Iran has finished a project to highly modernize the Russian T-55s and named them T-72Z Safir MBTs... These tanks were exported to Sudan...
Iran made M-60s highly modernized and called them "Samsam MBT"....
Iran has made 80 of Tosan Light Tanks. "Tosan" is a domestically produced light Tank, based on the FV101 Scorpion.....
Iran after gaining enough expertise on tanks started to design its own MBT called "Zulfiqar" Featuring EFCS-3 fire control system and auto loader. Zolfaghar or Zulfiqar has made three models behind, started with the simpler Zulfiqar-1 and ended up with Zulfiqar-3. Late production Zulfiqar 3 has a RAM camouflage and RWS with mounted DShKM machine gun. 150+ Zulfiqars are in service.
Due to unknown reasons Zulfiqar production were abondoned left the door open for more modern designs though... The latest Iranian MBT project is called "Karar MBT" and per announcements it is a totally Iranian design, way better than latest Zulfiqar versions and is under production.
Iran was once even asked by T-90 MBT producer to produce T-90s in Iran, but per official news, Iranian army commanders rejected this proposal emphasizing on current completely Iranian-Designed "Karar MBT"... If the army rejects a modern tank like T-90 this simply means the new Iranian Karar tank is at least in par with T-90 if not better.
Iran has also made great strides on APCs, BMPs and other armored vehicles...
As you said Iran is pretty advanced in Unmanned weaponry. These are some of them produced by Iran:
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