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On March 06, Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT), the first provider of the Pakistan Military’s (PA) armoured fight automobiles, together with essential battle tanks (MBT), rolled out its first regionally manufactured ‘Haider’ MBT. The Haider is a variant of the NORINCO VT4, which the PA inducted in 2020.
In keeping with Inter Companies Public Relations (ISPR), the press arm of the Pakistani army, the Haider was “indigenously manufactured by collaboration with NORINCO China and varied industries of Pakistan.” The ISPR additionally states that the freshly produced unit was a part of a “pilot mission.”
The PA inducted the VT4 in 2020, following an off-the-shelf buy of 176 tanks in late 2018 or early 2019 below a $859 million USD contract. By involving HIT within the tank’s manufacturing (albeit to a lesser diploma than what HIT has been doing with the al-Khalid collection), the PA confirmed its intention to make the VT4 or Haider a mainstay system, one it will purchase in sizable numbers.
How A lot of the Haider Is Pakistan Producing?
Based mostly on native information media footage of HIT in 2023, it seems that the Haider program includes greater than merely assembling the tank from NORINCO-supplied knockdown kits.
For instance, there may be footage of HIT welding the VT4’s turret and chassis. Likewise, HIT additionally revealed that it was regionally manufacturing varied subsystems, notably the Haider’s gun system. This consists of the barrel, breech mechanism, and elevation mechanism, amongst different inputs. HIT additionally said that it was indigenizing the Haider’s fireplace management system (FCS), gun management system (GCS), and, probably, the optronics, such because the gunner and commander sight programs.
What Occurs to the al-Khalid?
Because the supply of the al-Khalid Improved (al-Khalid-I) tanks, the standing of the PA’s older workhorse MBT has not been clear. In 2021, it appeared that HIT had a clearer route of the place to take the al-Khalid 2 program, which was presupposed to be a major improve of the tank.
Then Chairman of HIT, Main Basic Syed Aamer Raza, stated that the PA may probably leverage the VT4’s expertise to improve the al-Khalid 2. This made sense in that, basically, the VT4 was a distant and vastly upgraded variant of the MBT-2000, the core platform of the al-Khalid. Thus, there was a situation the place the al-Khalid 2 may have some commonality with the VT4/Haider.
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