Al-Khalid Tank
| Al-Khalid tank MBT-2000 |
|
|---|---|
Al-Khalid MBT on display at IDEAS 2012 held at Expo Center, Karachi, Pakistan in November 2012.
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| Type | Main battle tank |
| Place of origin | Pakistan |
| Service history | |
| In service | 2001 – present |
| Used by | Al-Khalid Operators |
| Production history | |
| Designer | Heavy Industries Taxila |
| Designed | 1993–99 |
| Manufacturer | Heavy Industries Taxila |
| Unit cost | $4.7 million – $5.8 million USD in 2011 |
| Produced | 2001 – present |
| Variants |
Pakistani:
Chinese:
|
| Specifications | |
| Weight | 46 t (51 short tons) |
| Length | 10.07 m (33 ft 0 in) |
| Width | 3.50 m (11 ft 6 in) |
| Height | 2.40 m (7 ft 10 in) |
| Crew | 3 |
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| Armour | Composite armour, RHA, ERA |
|
Main
armament |
125 mm smoothbore gun, 39 rounds |
|
Secondary
armament |
7.62 mm coaxial machine gun, 3000 rds 12.7 mm external AA machine gun, 500 rds |
| Engine |
KMDB 6TD-2 6-cylinder diesel 1,200 hp (890 kW) |
| Power/weight | 26 hp/ton |
| Transmission | SESM ESM500 5-speed automatic |
| Suspension | Torsion bar with hydraulic dampers |
|
Operational
range |
500 km (310 mi) combat range |
| Speed | 72 km/h (45 mph) |
Pakistani:
Chinese:
The Khalid (Urdu: الخالد ٹینک—Al-Xālid Ṫaiŋk, pronounced [əl-ˈxɑːlɪd̪ ʈæːŋk] literally "The Immortal Tank") is a main battle tank jointly developed by Pakistan and China during the 1990s. The original prototype was known as the MBT-2000. Around 310 Al Khalid MBTs were produced by 2014. The Bangladesh Army ordered 44 MBT-2000s from China in 2011. The tank is also used by the Royal Moroccan Army. It was trialled by the Peruvian Army for possible acquisition, but was not purchased due to financial problems.
Operated by a crew of three and armed with a 125 mm smooth-bore tank gun that is reloaded automatically, the tank uses a modern fire-control system integrated with night-fighting equipment and is capable of firing many types of anti-tank rounds as well as anti-tank guided missiles. Al-Khalid is named after the 7th-century Muslim commander Khalid bin al-Walid (592–642 AD).
An evolution of Chinese and Soviet tanks, the design is considerably smaller and lighter than most Western main battle tanks. It is based on the Chinese Type 90-II, which combined technologies from several Soviet and Western tanks. The Al-Khalid is unusual in that it was designed to be adaptable for manufacture, so that it can be easily integrated with a variety of foreign engines and transmissions. 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.
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Wikipedia