NEWTOWN, Conn. - At the present time, the combined forces of the Iranian Army and IRGC maintain an inventory of at least 1,700 active MBTs of varied design and origin. Open-source reporting indicates that Iran eventually hopes to field an armored force of some 5,000 modern tanks.
However, this ambitious procurement plan is unlikely to come to fruition within the next decade given the considerable limitations of the Iranian defense-industrial base in the spheres of technological development and manufacturing capacity. Nevertheless, the launch and ongoing development of the Zulfiqar program remains an important milestone in Iran's long-term efforts to build a self-sufficient domestic defense industry and to modernize its military vehicle inventories with larger quantities indigenous designs.
The Zulfiqar is Iran's most prominent and most unique indigenous MBT design, but Iranian contractors have also developed a number of other domestic tank programs. These efforts are focused largely on upgrading and modifying existing foreign designs with indigenously developed ordnance, power-plants and other technical systems.
Such models include the Samsam MBT, an up-armored adaption of the M60A1 model currently operated in considerable numbers by the Iranian Army, the Tosan light tank, based on the FV101 Scorpion, and the recently unveiled Sabalan MBT, which derives its design from the M47M Patton.
Although the combat capabilities of these tanks are outmoded compared to modern American and European MBT designs, the arduous process of guiding indigenous armored vehicle programs from a mere developmental concept all the way to serial-production nevertheless provides Iranian defense contractors with valuable experience.
The Iranian Government hopes that these efforts will bolster the proficiency of domestic defense contractors in overcoming the practical challenges of vehicle manufacture and serve as the foundation for a more robust and autonomous defense-industrial base across the board.
Although the Zulfiqar MBT is in full-rate production, press reports and photographic evidence suggest that the prime contractor is engaged in a continual process of modifying and upgrading the vehicle's core technical specifications.
At the present time, the prime contractor has developed three sequentially numbered variants of the Zuliqar MBT. Each version has integrated improved fire-control systems and incorporated an array of other enhancements to the vehicle's level of armored protection and performance specifications.
This tandem process of production and modernization contributes to the scarcity of technical information on the program. Standardizing Iran's existing Zulfiqars will be performed as a gradual undertaking over the course of the forecast period, with the latest Zulfiqar-III variant likely serving as the model for standardization.
You have 0 item(s) in your cart