In May 2021, Pakistan took delivery of both additional VT4 main battle tanks (MBT) and subassemblies or components for the al-Khalid Improved (al-Khalid I) from China’s Norinco Group. The information comes from publicly available import-export registries in Pakistan.
The Pakistan Army (PA) officially revealed the VT4 during a firing demonstration in October 2020. The PA had evaluated the VT4 as part of its Haider MBT program. The PA planned the Haider program as an off-the-shelf solution to accelerate its tank modernization efforts (alongside the al-Khalid-series).
Pakistan shortlisted the VT4 and the Kharkiv Morozov Machine Building Design Bureau (KMDB) Oplot-P, and ultimately, selected the VT4 in late 2018. According to sources, the PA has a $859 million U.S contract in place for 176 VT-4 tanks. Pakistan is considering additional batches.
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