Al-Khalid tanks offered to Turkey
By Ali Abbas Rizvi
In a startling development, Pakistan recently offered Turkey its newly-
developed main battle tank 2000 (Al-Khalid), thereby, joining a seven
billion dollar contest to supply Ankara with 1,000 tanks.
The offer was made during the last days of the Nawaz Sharif government,
by the former secretary defence Lieutenant General (retd) Chaudhry
Iftikhar Ali Khan during his visit to Ankara.
Earlier, Turkey had finalised five international tank manufacturers -
General Dynamics Corp's Land Systems unit in Sterling Heights, Mich.,
maker of the US Army's Abrams M1A2; GIAT Industries, Satory, France,
maker of the Leclerc; Krauss-Maffei Wehrtechnik GmbH, Munich, maker of
Leopard 2; Italian partners Oto Breda SpA, La Spezia, and Iveco SpA
Defense Vehicles Division, Bolzano, makers of the C1 Ariete; and
Ukrspetsexport, Kiev, Ukraine, maker of the T-80D - for the lucrative
project.
Also, two other competitors, the Moscow-based Russian export firm
Rosvoorouzhenie and the Israeli Defence Ministry, had offered their T-
80 and Merkava Mk3 tanks, respectively, but could not make it to the
last five.
According to the plans announced by the Undersecr-etariat for Defense
Industries, known as Savunma Sanayii Mustesarligi (SSM) in Turkish, in
October and November this year, Turkey will send four-man army teams to
receive two-week training on all the five tanks making it to the final.
Then, the five bidders will send their tanks to Turkey in January 2000,
for all-terrain tests, which will continue till 2001. The winner of the
tank contest will only be announced in the year 2002, with production
starting from 2004 and lasting 10 years.
Whatever the case may be, analysts firmly believe that the Al- Khalid
tank stands no chance among the bidders for a variety of reasons.
First, the Al-Khalid tank, which was recently developed, has not been
yet inducted into any army, including that of Pakistan. As such, little
is known about the Al-Khalid tank i.e. its general design philosophy,
hull, turret and combat system, engine, armament, protection and
survivability and maintenance and repair. Also, the tank has not been
put to extensive field trials, specially from the point of view of
prospective buyers.
Unlike other tanks in the market, it is not known how the Al- Khalid
will behave in deserts, on other types of rough terrain, in cold
weather, etc. Also, Pakistan is not known as a tank manufacturing
country. Therefore, the operational capability of the Al-Khalid will
remain under cloud till proven.
Second, the Al-Khalid tank has been produced with the help of Chinese
firm NORINCO and, most probably, carries a Western engine. The same
applies for its subsystems, which may have been procured from half-a-
dozen countries.
On the other hand, subsystems on most of the other reputed tanks in the
world either come from one country or, if not, their supply can be
guaranteed in both short and long-term period. Not so in the case of Al-
Khalid tank.
Third, most probably, Pakistan has not yet set up the mass production
facilities for the Al-Khalid. On the other hand, other tanks in the
competition are being mass produced. As such, this automatically rules
out the choice of MBT 2000.
Fourth, as a pre-condition, Turkey has told the five international tank-
makers chosen to compete for the billion dollar project to form
alliances with local companies and transfer technology. To give one
example, General Dynamics Land Systems, the firm that produces the
Abrams tanks, has offered Turkey to provide all technology associated
with the design, integration, testing and production of the tank and to
set up a tank design bureau to design future tanks. Pakistan, not
surprisingly, is not in a position to do so.
Fifth, the Turks have already shown their great interest in the
American M1A2 SEP (System Enhancement Package) Abram Tank. Similarly,
the American firm, greatly excited at the $7 billion project, is
putting all pressure on Turkey to accept its product. The stakes in the
lucrative deal are so high that the American government even persuaded
Israel to withdraw its Merkava 3 tank from the contest, telling Tel
Aviv that it would not be a good idea if Syria found the Israeli tanks
both on its northern and southern borders.
However, the US-Turkish relationship has been bumpy over the years,
with Washington blocking several defence deals, including that of Super
Cobra gunships in 1996, on account of alleged human rights violations.
Nevertheless, certainly not the best tank in the world, the MBT Al-
Khalid may have several advantages over its Indian rival the MBT Arjun.
For example, the Al-Khalid project, keeping the limitations of
Pakistani access to technology in mind, does not seem to be an over-
ambitious venture. Also, being much lighter than the Arjun (48 tonnes
vs 58 tonnes), the tank is easy to transport.
Meanwhile, with the change of government in Pakistan, the last-minute
entry of MBT 2000 into the Turkish tank bid may witness a change of
fate as the new government may decide to put the tank under rigorous
trials and induct it first before offering it to others.
While the army may be proud of its Ghouri and Shaheen missiles, in the
terms of the Indo-Pak conflict, tanks will remain as the only practical
method of securing and protecting territory. The question is: in the
post-nuclear era, will we see them now equipped with nuclear shells?
https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/soc.culture.afghanistan/-bcDnR1YtS4
