It has a 1200HP engine, this is confirmed news, there is no source to back up the claim that it has 1500HP. I too believed that at the start but I’ve personally confirmed it with HIT.
You can technically tune the engine to make 1500HP if you want, or de-tune it to 1000, but the tuning is done so as to achieve the perfect combination of range, reliability and power output. This is true for all tank engines.
You can’t go on an offensive with speed alone, the sides of the VT-4, and all Pakistani tanks (and by extension Indian tanks too) are weak, mainly because none of them have been powerful enough so far to carry significant side armor without a mobility penalty, this is less of an issue on the VT-4. The main threat to MBTs is infantry, and infantry can flank a tank. Putting on side armor is much cheaper (and at times also lighter) than an APS system.
Can’t comment on the drone launching capability, that’s easy enough to add. But PA has other place to put funds right now.
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Top to bottom: Al-Zarrar with side ERA package.
UD with its 1/3rd side covered in extra armor (also seen in Indian T90S models, but with Kontakt 5 ERA instead). All PA UDs have it.
AK with full side skirt, this is not armor, rather a anti-thermal signature measure.
AK with Side armor similar to UD, used to be commonly seen, now not so much.
AK with a full side armor kit, doesn’t cover all the way down, but is still a lot better than nothing, especially if they put ERA on top, was not seen outside some models at HIT.
AK with Shtora APS. The IR dazzlers on the cheeks are obsolete stuff, PA didn’t buy the system (thankfully), but I wish they got the LWRs (nodes above the barrel) and the automatic smoke deployment and threat targeting systems that come with shtora. Some companies (ALTCOP and GIDS) made such systems locally too, but they were never employed in large numbers, only seen on a few AKs and AZs, they’re basically the most basic form of an APS.