'Pakistan moves swiftly to self-reliance in defence needs'
Pakistan Times Monitoring Report
TAXILA: After having successfully developed state-of-the-art MBT Al-Khalid, the prestigious HIT (Heavy Industries Taxila) is all set to take a major leap towards complete self-reliance in defence as the Institute is at the final stages of establishing AARDIC (Advanced Armoured Research, Development and Integration Complex).
The AARDIC will comprise 30 labs which will be developing advanced armoured, various weapon systems, through reverse engineering besides manufacturing strategic weapon systems for country's armoured fleets. HIT will also be producing Al-Khalid 1by year 2007 which will be far more advanced than the current Al-Khalid which is being graded by independent defence experts as one of the best MBT in the world.
Bird's eye view
Pakistan's noted journalist Aroosa Alam writes; a day long privileged visit to POF and HIT gave a bird's eye view of the two organisations which have earned millions of foreign exchange through defence exports.
HIT has just fetched a US $ 32 million contract for the sale of various types of APCs and other armoured vehicles to a friendly country and is eyeing for more markets to be captured for these machines in months to come. All together the HIT alone has the saving of 331.13 million US$ during last three years. The money is now spent on the establishment of AARDIC and R&D purposes.
Senior officials at HIT are confident that AARDIC will help engineers and technicians to develop more advanced and strategic weapons and technologies for Al-Khalid and other armoured vehicles which will put Pakistan in the row of countries having highly advanced defence industry.
The officials say that under the prevalent geo-strategic situation Pakistan needs to have a complete self-reliance in defence. There should not be any compromise on national defence which is vitally linked with the economic security of the country.
These officials rightly take great pride in the fact that HIT has developed state-of-the-art Al-Khalid indigenously. "No known anti-tank system can defeat Al-Khalid tank till date".
Ability of Al-Khalid
The tank has the ability to survive nuclear, chemical and biological warfare. According to them no comparison can be drawn between Indian Arjun and Pakistani Al-Khalid MBT. "Al-Khalid has been a success story.60 tonne, Arjun tank has devoured 250 million US $ for its development over last two decades and so far only 24 tanks have been produced", said an official.
Pakistan army is already has in its inventory 90 Al-Khalids fully operational. The HIT is rolling out 50 Al-Khalids every year and by next year with additional allocations the production will be doubled.
At the moment the HIT is over booked with Pakistan Army's demand who has placed order for 300 Al-Khalids. Two high level Saudi defence delegations have conducted extensive test and trials of the tank during past few months.
Saudi Arabia, the First customer
The tank will now be dispatched to Saudi Arabia for further trials and Riyadh may become the first customer of Al-Khalid followed by many other Muslim countries who have shown keen interest in this tank.
The Cost
Although senior officials refrain from quoting the exact cost of the tank they do indicate that any tank having capabilities same as Al-Khalid will have a price tag of $17 million per piece. "
I can tell you that you can produce many Al-Khalids in same price but commercial price for this tank will be fixed according to export orders", they said. In a similar camparis on, officials said that while any Western tank would cost US 8 million dollars per piece, the recently acquired Ukrainian T-80UD have cost 1.5 million per unit to Pakistan Army. "We needed these tanks to defeat Indian T-72".
Agility and Mobility
Twenty minutes thrilling ride on Al-Khalid by journalist Aroosa Alam explained the agility and mobility of the tank which thundered through artificially created difficult terrains at the speed of 32 km, demonstrating trench and obstacle crossing with 60% side slop.
Tank also exhibited astonishing bump stop with hydraulic breaks but the gun did not loose the stability. Powered by 1200HP diesel engine, Al-Khalid equally impressed my other course mates who could not have imagined even in their wildest dream that Pakistan can develop such a foolproof mechanised defence system.
The visit of three factories of HIT made everyone proud of our men of excellence who were seen working on these projects with dedication and national commitment.
Al-Khalid's main gun is 125mm smooth bore with autoloader. The unique feature of Al-Khalid is that it is equipped with auto tracker system. It also has hunter killer capability which can track and engage more than one targets while on the move. The tank can operate fully even during night with thermal imagery systems. Tank's maximum speed is upto 70km per hour.
Al-Zarrar
Besides Al-Khalid HIT is also rebuilding T-8511AP, T-69HMP, Al-Zarrar and T59MII. Tank Al-Zarrar is yet another success story for HIT. A number of prototype were developed on sound R&D basis for comparative evaluation and trials for the viability of upgradation of Al-Zarrar and finally Pakistan Army decided to induct 50 Al-Zarrars whose second batch was recently handed over by HIT.
40 tons Al-Zarrar has 125mm smooth bore gun with compatible Gun Control System and Semi Auto-loader, Image Stabilised Fire Control Systems, Thermal Imagining, Sight for day and night combat, 730HP engine, Compatible Transmission and Suspension System, and Explosive Reactive Armour.
HIT is very proud to produce FCS (Day Night Fire Control System) which is used to sight and track a static or moving targets during day and night. The system was introduced in Pakistan Army in 1990 and is now being indigenously produced. The system is available with training to countries having T-54/55/59/69 series of tanks.
