Pakistan Army's VT-4 Main Battle Tank | Updates & Discussions

[HRK]

I feel the AKII is dead

AK-2 will be put in production in 2022-2023 as per expected schedule .... till then HIT will produce AK-I

 

[waz]

After few years:

Tier 1:

VT-4 - 7 regts (ongoing program)
AK-1 - 5 regts (ongoing program)
AK - 7 regts
T-80UD - 7 regts

Tier 2:

T-85UG - 6 regts
AZ - 11 regts

Tier 3:

T-59MI/MII/T-69IIMP

I would think the lower tiers (asidie T-85) will be cosigned to paramilitary or reserves. I wouldn't be confident fielding such tanks in a theatre of war where even the most modern tanks have been taken out by ATGMS (Syria theatre).

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Means AK-2 not coming in few years

I feel the AKII is dead; could be we repackage VT-4 as AKII.

AK-2s Will come once the Production Run of Ak-1 is over. Last time it was Reported it was having Cost Related Issues But its Development was proceeding well. They have probably Rectified that Problem by now.

Unlike VT-4 which is an off the Shelf Procurement AK-2 will offer us the same Freedom we have with AKs. We will have to Start Replacing AZs and T85s at some point in the Future Off the shelf solutions will not work for Replacements at this Scale. We need a System that can be Updated over the next Decades to Keep up with the recent Advances that will only come in the shape of 2s.

 

[waz]

According to new pictures published on April 22, 2020, to the China Defense Blog, the latest version of Chinese-made Main Battle Tank (MBT) VT4 is now protected with new armor ERA (Explosive Reactive Armor) Level FY-4 providing protection against Tandem Warhead ammunition. According to our previous analysis, the first version of the VT-4 MBT was fitted with ERA level FY-2.

The VT4 MBT (Main Battle Tank) is now in service with four armed forces in the world including China, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Thailand. The VT4 also called MBT-3000 is a third-generation Main Battle Tank (MBT) designed, developed and manufactured in China by NORINCO (China North Industries Corporation).

The VT4 MBT was unveiled by the Chinese defense industry in November 2019 during the China International Aviation & Aerospace or Zhuhai AirShow. The layout of this tank is very similar to the Russian tank with a crew of three including driver, commander and gunner and the use of an automatic loading system for the main armament.

The main armament of the VT4 / MBT-3000 consists of a 125 mm smoothbore gun fitted with a thermal sleeve and fume extractor. It is fed by an automatic loader that holds a total of 22 projectiles and charges which can be loaded at the rate of eight per minute. One 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun is mounted to the right of the main armament, while on the commander's cupola is mounted a remote weapon station armed with a 12.7mm heavy machine gun that can be used to engage ground and aerial targets.

The hull and turret of the VT4 are of welded steel construction with a layer of composite armor over the front arc. The first version of the tank was fitted with additional ERA (Explosive Reactive armor) Level FY-2 providing protection against HEAT (High-Explosive Anti-Tank) and APFSDS (Armour-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot) ammunition. According to the latest pictures released on the Internet, the latest variant of the VT4 is now fitted at the front of the hull with ERA armor Level FY-4 providing protection against Tandem Warhead.

Currently, China produces four Level of ERA armour including the FY-I with protection against HEAT ammunition, the FY-II with protection against HEAT, APFSDS ammunition, the FY-III with protection against HEAT, APFSDS and tandem warhead ammunition and the FY-IV providing protection against HEAT, APFSDS and tandem warhead ammunition but with 85 mm thick armour blocks for the FY-IV and only 75 mm for Level III. The ERA armour consists of steel blocks with C4 explosives inside.

Reactive armour is a type of vehicle armour that reacts in some way to the impact of a weapon to reduce the damage done to the vehicle being protected. It is most effective in protecting against shaped charges and specially hardened kinetic energy penetrators. The most common type is explosive reactive armour (ERA), but variants include self-limiting explosive reactive armour (SLERA), non-energetic reactive armour (NERA), non-explosive reactive armour (NxRA), and electric reactive armour.

A high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) warhead is a type of shaped charge explosive that uses the Munroe effect to penetrate thick tank armor. Armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot (APFSDS) is a type of kinetic energy penetrator ammunition used to attack modern vehicle armour. As an armament for main battle tanks, it succeeds armour-piercing discarding sabot (APDS) ammunition, which is still used in small or medium caliber weapon systems.

Tandem warheads are effective against reactive armour, which is designed to protect an armoured vehicle (mostly tanks) against anti-tank ammunition, missiles and rocket. The first stage of the weapon is typically a weak charge that either pierces the reactive armour of the target without detonating it leaving a channel through the reactive armour so that the second warhead may pass unimpeded, or simply detonating the armour plates causing the timing of the counter-explosion to fail. The second detonation from the same projectile attacks the same location as the first detonation where the reactive armour has been compromised. Since the regular armour plating is often the only defence remaining, the main charge (second detonation) has an increased likelihood of penetrating the armour.

https://www.armyrecognition.com/wea...armour_against_tandem_warhead_ammunition.html

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

I would think the lower tiers (asidie T-85) will be cosigned to paramilitary or reserves. I wouldn't be confident fielding such tanks in a theatre of war where even the most modern tanks have been taken out by ATGMS (Syria theatre).

We wont have much choice in this Regard Indians are Procuring Tanks at a Speed we cant Match. T-85 will stay for at least for the Next decade and Half. PA right now has a Modernization Program going on for T-85s Slated to be finished by 2022-2023.

 

[waz]

We wont have much choice in this Regard Indians are Procuring Tanks at a Speed we cant Match. T-85 will stay for at least for the Next decade and Half. PA right now has a Modernization Program going on for T-85s Slated to be finished by 2022-2023.

There's been been delays to their T-90 acquisitions so it's a similar situation for them, although they still field more modern tanks.
The T-85 is a great tank agreed.

 

[Inception-06]

ToT point was dropped last year. These tanks will be only overhauled in Pakistan when their Maintenance/First Overhaul Cycle is due. All Tanks to be manufactured at Full Capacity by Norinco and provided to PA as per the timeline set by PA. Contract was signed last year. It’s delivery time now.

Really sad, why is the transfer of technology not necessary?

 

[Bilal Khan (Quwa)]

Really sad, why is the transfer of technology not necessary?

Likely because the Army isn't buying nearly enough tanks to make sense of ToT. So, it's more cost-effective to buy them off-the-shelf as-is, and they'll reach sooner. Finally, HIT has its own MBT (i.e., AK), yes it needs work, but AK-2 will be as modern as any tank by the time it enters production.

 

[RAMPAGE]

Likely because the Army isn't buying nearly enough tanks to make sense of ToT. So, it's more cost-effective to buy them off-the-shelf as-is, and they'll reach sooner. Finally, HIT has its own MBT (i.e., AK), yes it needs work, but AK-2 will be as modern as any tank by the time it enters production.

I doubt that, especially in terms of sensors and a hard-kill system. But then again, are they even needed in our case?

 

[Bilal Khan (Quwa)]

I doubt that, especially in terms of sensors and a hard-kill system. But then again, are they even needed in our case?

Those subsystems will become available, be it from China, Ukraine, Turkey and/or South Africa. The real question is how well HIT can manufacture them, and whether the PA will be in a position to afford the AK2. There's a trade-off with buying off-the-shelf...

 

[RAMPAGE]

Those subsystems will become available, be it from China, Ukraine, Turkey and/or South Africa. The real question is how well HIT can manufacture them, and whether the PA will be in a position to afford the AK2. There's a trade-off with buying off-the-shelf...

Let what emerges - if anything. We've been watching this space for the better part of a decade.

 

[Beast]

baseline AK steering wheel
View attachment 628035

That looks like manual shifting.

Really sad, why is the transfer of technology not necessary?

You need to set up production to handle the manufacturing. Since some are new tech, it is inevitable that money need to be invested for it. This will add up cost for the overall tank. Plus setting up line and train skilled tech will be another task which needs time and money. So how long do u think it will take and cost before first production VT-4 comes out from Pakistan? There is urgent need for VT-4 and time is not luxury.

China is proven to be very reliable military supplier. There is no fear of sanction unlike US.

 

[Ahmet Pasha]

I was talking about Pakistani attitude towards R&D, local manufacturing etc in general. People are more proud of impotted things rather than making stuff at home and promoting local business.

na bro, he's a good, competant officer AND a veteran, I've known him since he was a 2nd lieutenant. And he's seen plenty of frontline combat, he posted pics in the old PDF. He deserves the most respect & gratitude out of everyone on this forum.

 

[Dazzler]

China dispatches two customised VT4 MBTs to undisclosed foreign customer

Gabriel Dominguez, London and Dmitry Fediushko, Moscow - Jane's Defence Weekly
28 April 2020

One of the two customised VT4s photographed leaving China’s Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group on 20 April. The group did not reveal the identity of the customer. Source: Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group

China's Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group released images on 20 April via its WeChat account showing what appear to be two customised China North Industries Corporation (Norinco) VT4 main battle tanks (MBTs) being transported on trucks to an undisclosed foreign customer.

The images, which show the MBTs featuring a new explosive reactive armour (ERA) fitted to the glacis and turret, indicate that these VT4s are slightly different from the ones exported to Thailand and Nigeria.

The factory did not provide further details about the platforms (which were painted in green-brown camouflage), the value of the contract, or the number of tanks set to be supplied, saying only that it had held a "launch ceremony" for the two VT4s, which were being delivered to an undisclosed country.

According to Jane's Land Warfare Platforms: Armoured Fighting Vehicles, the export-only VT4 (formerly known as the MBT-3000) follows a conventional Soviet-layout MBT with a 125 mm smoothbore gun and carousel automatic loading system.

For close support and anti-personnel fire, the VT4 carries a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun and what is most likely the Type 88 12.7 mm machine gun, which is cupola-mounted for the commander's use.

The turret also carries eight 76 mm smoke dischargers and four dischargers of 76 mm high-explosive fragmentation grenades. In 2014, an enhanced version of the platforms was shown featuring a remote weapon station, believed to be the UW1, which can mount a 7.62 mm or a12.7 mm machine gun.

The protection afforded to the VT4 has yet to be disclosed, and it is unclear whether the base armour design is a close copy of the T-72B or the T-90A MBTs, as Samuel Cranny-Evans, senior research analyst and editor of Jane's Land Warfare Platforms: Armoured Fighting Vehicles, pointed out.


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(318 of 489 words)

China dispatches two customised VT4 MBTs to undisclosed foreign customer | Jane's Defence Weekly

The buyer still remains a mystery.

 

[maverick1977]

China dispatches two customised VT4 MBTs to undisclosed foreign customer

Gabriel Dominguez, London and Dmitry Fediushko, Moscow - Jane's Defence Weekly
28 April 2020

One of the two customised VT4s photographed leaving China’s Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group on 20 April. The group did not reveal the identity of the customer. Source: Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group

China's Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group released images on 20 April via its WeChat account showing what appear to be two customised China North Industries Corporation (Norinco) VT4 main battle tanks (MBTs) being transported on trucks to an undisclosed foreign customer.

The images, which show the MBTs featuring a new explosive reactive armour (ERA) fitted to the glacis and turret, indicate that these VT4s are slightly different from the ones exported to Thailand and Nigeria.

The factory did not provide further details about the platforms (which were painted in green-brown camouflage), the value of the contract, or the number of tanks set to be supplied, saying only that it had held a "launch ceremony" for the two VT4s, which were being delivered to an undisclosed country.

According to Jane's Land Warfare Platforms: Armoured Fighting Vehicles, the export-only VT4 (formerly known as the MBT-3000) follows a conventional Soviet-layout MBT with a 125 mm smoothbore gun and carousel automatic loading system.

For close support and anti-personnel fire, the VT4 carries a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun and what is most likely the Type 88 12.7 mm machine gun, which is cupola-mounted for the commander's use.

The turret also carries eight 76 mm smoke dischargers and four dischargers of 76 mm high-explosive fragmentation grenades. In 2014, an enhanced version of the platforms was shown featuring a remote weapon station, believed to be the UW1, which can mount a 7.62 mm or a12.7 mm machine gun.

The protection afforded to the VT4 has yet to be disclosed, and it is unclear whether the base armour design is a close copy of the T-72B or the T-90A MBTs, as Samuel Cranny-Evans, senior research analyst and editor of Jane's Land Warfare Platforms: Armoured Fighting Vehicles, pointed out.


To read the full article, Client Login
(318 of 489 words)

China dispatches two customised VT4 MBTs to undisclosed foreign customer | Jane's Defence Weekly

mystery buyer .. welcomr VT 4s