Tank Match-Up: India Vs. Pakistan

[HAIDER]

India and Pakistan are sometimes bitter rivals in South Asia, having fought four wars and numerous skirmishes in the last 50 years. In terms of armor, both sides use tanks that are
either Soviet-made or derivatives of Soviet designs. This makes the two sides evenly matched in terms of equipment quality, but it is not impossible to determine who has the better gear.

India

India's main battle tank is the Russian T-90S, jointly produced in India and Russia. In a peculiar irony, India is set to deploy more of Russia's best tank than Russia herself is. This 46.5 ton tank borrows features from the T-80 and puts them on an improved version of the end version of the T-72. It has steel and composite armor, and can be fitted with reactive plates. This version of the tank has a 1,000hp engine, the standard Russian 125mm smoothbore tank gun, and can fire anti-tank missiles as well as shells.

India's secondary tank is the veteran T-72. The characteristics of these tanks are well known, with 500mm of steel and composite armor on the front arc, as well as the ubiquitous 125mm gun. India has been upgrading some of their T-72s at home, while sending others out to be refitted by Poland, France, Russia, and Israel.

Pakistan

The main battle tank of the Pakistani Army is the Al-Khalid, a 48 ton derivative of the Chinese T-96, which in turn is based on Soviet tank designs. It also has the usual Russian 125mm smoothbore gun that can fire the AT-11 anti-tank missile as well as shells. With a 1,200hp supercharged diesel engine, it is capable of up to 76kph. The tank has modular composite armor, can be fitted with reactive plates, and has a standard suite of safety features and sensors.
Pakistan fields two secondary main battle tanks in support of their Al-Khalids. The first and most capable is the 42.5 ton Ukrainian T-80UD. It is powered by a 1,000-hp turbo diesel engine, with a top speed of 70kph. It

has a crew of 3, is armed with a 125mm smoothbore gun that can fire AT-8 anti-tank missiles as well as shells, an autoloader, and composite armor. It has a standard complement of modern safety features and sensors, as well as the compact, low-profile design that Soviet/Russian armor specializes in.

The other Pakistani supporting design is the Al-Zarrar, which is a Chinese refit of the venerable Soviet T-55. The five decade old design has been up-gunned to feature a 125mm gun, been fitted with reactive armor to improve survivability, and has better fire control features.

Result: PAKISTAN! Although the Indian T-72s totally outclass the Al-Zarrars, the Pakistani T-80Us outclass them in turn. Meanwhile, the Al-Khalid has a slight edge over the T-90 in terms of overall armored protection and ground speed.
Tank Match-Up: India Vs. Pakistan, Page 2 of 2 - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

(This analysis been written by collecting information from different respectable website of Pak,India and few well known defence websites)

 

[InPhilTraitor]

what ever makes you happy man.. after all this is a pakistani defense forums. In India vs Pakistan matchup... Pakistan wins.

Pakistan is superior, fairer, taller, more beautiful... you win hands down.

 

[HAIDER]

You don't need to be agree but counter argument is always welcome .

 

[InPhilTraitor]

You don't need to be agree but counter argument is always welcome .

that is refreshing, but I have to tell you in your analysis or in this piece you have posted, the numbers are not taken into consideration.

 

[fatman17]

mods i thought we discourage 'us v. them' threads!!!

 

[HAIDER]

Its not deliberately made thread, its posted from news section as is. No addition has been made in thread headline.

 

[Peshwa]

Its not deliberately made thread, its posted from news section as is. No addition has been made in thread headline.

Honestly, Im seriously interested in this topic.....

So instead of a Indian T-90 vs Pakistani Al Khalid....why not make it just a T-90 vs Al-Khalid.....or T-80 vs T-72....

theres a popular show called "Deadliest Warrior" on spike that compares 2 battle units, eg. Samurai vs viking....to see which unit comes up top if pitched against one another.....

The show does this through scientific and physical detail with considerations such as enviornmental and armamental differences as well as fighting style into consideration.....its super interesting...

Maybe if we could keep the discussion along such lines instead of getting carried away with national pride.....this could be a very interesting thread and a good read....

I hope people contribute...

 

[TaimiKhan]

Simple result is, quality wise, may be not much of a difference between the tanks of both countries, slight up and down can be there, but quantity wise, India is much superior, thus in the end, tank battle may be won by India, if our ATGM units did not performed well.

Plus, as of now, may be in night battle scenario, Pakistan may have an upper hand, but in few years time period, that edge is also gonna be equal.

Being a Pakistani, i would advise the armed forces to get as much as possible advanced modern ATGMs up on mobile platforms, which can supplement the armored formations to some what reduce the numbers deficiency.

TOW & BS on M113 chasis, Chinese WZ550 ATGM system a good option, plus PTL 02 system is also an option which can be looked into. Plus, another more advanced fire and forget ATGM system.

 

[Ishan]

Misleading Article

Article Does not have Many Things Mentioned ...India also has Made newer Deals for T-90M Tanks which Upgraded Armour , New Imagers

Arjun MK2 Tanks Also is Going to Inducted in Future..

New Advanced Javelin Anti-Tank missiles , Nag ATGM and So on..

 

[rockstarIN]

Simple result is, quality wise, may be not much of a difference between the tanks of both countries, slight up and down can be there, but quantity wise, India is much superior, thus in the end, tank battle may be won by India, if our ATGM units did not performed well.

Plus, as of now, may be in night battle scenario, Pakistan may have an upper hand, but in few years time period, that edge is also gonna be equal.

Being a Pakistani, i would advise the armed forces to get as much as possible advanced modern ATGMs up on mobile platforms, which can supplement the armored formations to some what reduce the numbers deficiency.

TOW & BS on M113 chasis, Chinese WZ550 ATGM system a good option, plus PTL 02 system is also an option which can be looked into. Plus, another more advanced fire and forget ATGM system.

You are right, tank performance are more or less same., it is the numbers, tactics, role (defensive or offense) and most importantly the man & their capabilities matters..

Alexendar won most of his battle just because of his tactics not by numbers.

 

[MZUBAIR]

Pak should keep the less quanity n high quality to compete

 

[HAIDER]

Simple result is, quality wise, may be not much of a difference between the tanks of both countries, slight up and down can be there, but quantity wise, India is much superior, thus in the end, tank battle may be won by India, if our ATGM units did not performed well.

Plus, as of now, may be in night battle scenario, Pakistan may have an upper hand, but in few years time period, that edge is also gonna be equal.

Being a Pakistani, i would advise the armed forces to get as much as possible advanced modern ATGMs up on mobile platforms, which can supplement the armored formations to some what reduce the numbers deficiency.

TOW & BS on M113 chasis, Chinese WZ550 ATGM system a good option, plus PTL 02 system is also an option which can be looked into. Plus, another more advanced fire and forget ATGM system.

But do you think in Pak India battle , lighter tanks are always winner. When during Gen Zia, US offered Pak army M1 Abram and it was rejected on the basis of weight, because major battle field marshy area and specially very muddy during rainy season. If you take look,except T72 rest of Indian tanks are heavy ,and except some areas along Sind region, rest of region, along Punjab and Indian Gujrat (marshes) they turn to be mobilization nightmare ?
Rest technicality is another issue, when some region where tank is visible from 5 to 8 missiles, like in desert region,its a sitting duck. Where only tank which has extreme capability of speed and turn and handling has better chance of survival ?

 

[jha]

But do you think in Pak India battle , lighter tanks are always winner. When during Gen Zia, US offered Pak army M1 Abram and it was rejected on the basis of weight, because major battle field marshy area and specially very muddy during rainy season. If you take look,except T72 rest of Indian tanks are heavy ,and except some areas along Sind region, rest of region, along Punjab and Indian Gujrat (marshes) they turn to be mobilization nightmare ?
Rest technicality is another issue, when some region where tank is visible from 5 to 8 missiles, like in desert region,its a sitting duck. Where only tank which has extreme capability of speed and turn and handling has better chance of survival ?

I doubt a tank even with above highlighted capability will be able to survive a SPIKE or, JAVELIN attack..However this will indeed prove to be a good debate if nationalist jingoism is left aside...

 

[TaimiKhan]

But do you think in Pak India battle , lighter tanks are always winner. When during Gen Zia, US offered Pak army M1 Abram and it was rejected on the basis of weight, because major battle field marshy area and specially very muddy during rainy season. If you take look,except T72 rest of Indian tanks are heavy ,and except some areas along Sind region, rest of region, along Punjab and Indian Gujrat (marshes) they turn to be mobilization nightmare ?
Rest technicality is another issue, when some region where tank is visible from 5 to 8 missiles, like in desert region,its a sitting duck. Where only tank which has extreme capability of speed and turn and handling has better chance of survival ?

Indian T-90s are light too and capable to give a good punch. And yes terrain is a major issue and tanks are to be designed as per this factor too.

Speed and turn are also key factors, but in today's modern era of ATGMs, especially the top attack ones, a good defensive suite is also needed, hard kill or soft kill, whichever is better. Then tanks are going to get a good chance of survival. And due to the limited range of tank's gun, i had suggested to get as much as possible mobile platforms capable ATGMs, as they can neutralize a superior tank force with minimum casualty on this side, they can attack the tank before they themselves come into a tank's range, plus with some other platforms and tactics, they can be one hell of a force. Plus, the PLT02 kind of light armored assault guns are a good option, as they are mobile, less bulky and less expensive, they can prove their worth in the COIN operations too. PLT02 is the Chinese somewhat equivalent of the US Stryker platform, and Chinese are adding them in numbers with their tank formations.

 

[Hyde]

how many tanks are there in Pakistan's inventory now?
Last data I heard was back in 2004 and I guess no such news was ever published after that

Anybody know?

and also can somebody confirm how many Al-Khalid's we have in our inventory by now? and what about Al-Zarrar's?