In an interview, Heavy Industries Taxila’s (HIT) Chairman, Major General Syed Aamer Raza, suggested that the forthcoming al-Khalid 2 main battle tank (MBT) could draw on the VT-4’s technology.[1]
The al-Khalid 2 and VT-4 are the Pakistan Army’s ongoing next-generation MBT programs.
Pakistan ordered 176 VT-4 tanks for $859 million U.S. The Pakistan Army announced the VT-4’s induction in October of last year as part of a firing demonstration. Publicly available import-export registries report that Pakistan took on additional VT-4 deliveries as recently as May 2021.
The al-Khalid 2 is a significant upgrade or development of the al-Khalid-series, one of the mainstay MBTs of the Pakistan Army. The Army and HIT have not disclosed many specific details about the new MBT, but to-date, they revealed that the al-Khalid 2 could use a 1,500 hp diesel engine and upgraded electronics.
Currently, HIT is working through an order of 110 al-Khalid I (Improved) MBTs for the Army. It seems that HIT has fulfilled at least 50% of the order, and based on its current output, HIT could complete the contract within the next two to three years. This transition point could lead to the start of al-Khalid 2 production.
The idea that the PA could use some subsystems from the VT-4 on the al-Khalid 2 is not surprising. When it selected the VT-4, the Army found the tank suitable for Pakistan’s climate and geographic conditions. In addition, using some of the VT-4’s subsystems on the al-Khalid 2 could help with streamlining support.
However, one interesting aspect of the VT-4 is that it is reportedly a distant derivative of the Chinese Type-90II. Norinco Group had designed the Type-90II for export and, in turn, Pakistan adopted the platform as the basis for the al-Khalid-series. Granted, the VT-4 belongs to a distinct sub-family due to its engine and transmission platform, but its critical systems were still potentially designed within the framework of the Type-90II. HIT is developing the al-Khalid 2 using the same core platform.
Maj. Gen Raza said that HIT is continuously in touch with Norinco Group to jointly develop systems for the al-Khalid-series. Thus, it is possible that HIT had some knowledge of the VT-4’s development track and, in turn, may have contracted Norinco Group to help with the al-Khalid 2. However, the al-Khalid-series and VT-series are still distinct branches of the Type-90II core – absolute commonality is unlikely.
The al-Khalid-series was developed to operate with Ukraine’s 6TD-2 diesel engine and transmission stack, and this is unlikely to change with the al-Khalid 2. To pivot the al-Khalid-series to new critical systems will add to the cost and development time of the new variant. The ability to streamline logistics with common engines and other critical systems between the al-Khalid 2 and VT-4 may offset those costs. However, at least today, it seems that the Army will design the al-Khalid 2 on an evolutionary track.
In this respect, the Army could look at a new engine and transmission from Ukraine. Doing so could offer the al-Khalid 2 the necessary performance improvements, but still be somewhat similar to the preceding variants by using new versions of existing technologies (e.g., the 6TD-3 engine instead of 6TD-2).
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