1. I don't know why they only brought 1 to Qeshm Island as part of the Exercise. I was surprised to see Karrar with IRGC ground forces because I was under the impression that the IRGC was going to upgrade their T-72 fleet with the upgrade package that they themselves have developed.
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2- around last year there were pictures released from the Bani-Hashem Tank plant in Dorud, Lorestan. one of the Karrars photographed at the plant had a banner that read "hp 1000". from this I assume that it is a 1000 Hp diesel engine. Possibly a turbo charged version of the original 840hp V-84 T-72S engine.
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3.a) Karrar was designed with a "Soft Kill" Active Protection System designed to trick the Guidance system of Semi Automatic Control Line of Sight (SACLOS) missiles like T.O.W. This was a direct lesson from the war in Syria. SACLOS missiles use a flair at the rear of the missile for the fire control system to track the position of the missile in flight and guide it to the target. the Passive protection system is mounted on either side of the turret and it emits a read light that mimics the flair and confuses the missile's fire control system resulting in it missing its target.
b) I don't think karrar was designed to go up against the Merkava or Abrams but to upgrade the T-72 to be more survivable on the modern battlefield by employing lessons learned in the Syrian theater and be able to deal with Modern MBTs that are in service with Iran's neighbors like Azerbaijan.