DIO Zulfiqar

The Story of DIO Zulfiqar

The Zulfiqar is a relatively new main battle tank of Iranian design. The design is credited to Iranian Brigadier General Mir-Younes Masoumzadeh, and the production is under the responsibility of the Defense Industry Organization (DIO).

Local production of the Zulfiqar is said to be continuing at the time of writing, with more than 100 examples believed to have been built, reinforcing the growing reliance of the Iranian defense industry on the modern world. While its combat capabilities are largely unknown outside Iran, the Zulfiqar can be considered comparable to modern main battle tanks of similar scope and design.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has long relied on purchasing foreign equipment to equip its military. Until recently, these were American and Soviet-inspired weapons, but have recently been superseded by homegrown systems. First, the Iranian military uses its decades of experience with specific weapons to simply apply the knowledge to modernize and modify equipment to meet the needs and tactics of the Iranian military. These important recent developments include the HESA Saeqeh multirole fighter (based on the US Northrop F-5 Tiger) and the PANHA 2091 Toufan (based on the Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter).

The Zulfiqar tank itself is said to be descended from the American M60 Patton and the Soviet T-72 main battle tank.

Zulfiqar clearly shows early American design of runners and suspensions, although overall it has a cleaner, flatter turret layout and Soviet-style main gun. There are six wheels on one side chain, the drive sprocket is installed at the rear of the body, and the chain idler is installed at the front. Five chain return rollers are identified in the design, although these may be covered with side "skirt" armor for direct protection.

Overall armor protection is considered composite, while the use of explosive reactive armor (ERA) does not extend beyond the tank. The Zulfiqar relies on a traditional torsion bar suspension for off-road cruising.

Zulfiqar has an unassuming design with a traditional layout. The automatic loading system - said to be based on the Soviet T-72 series - allowed the crew to consist of only three people (as opposed to the Western standard of four), with the driver sitting in the center of the front row and the commander-gunner in the traversing tower. While autoloaders help relieve crew responsibilities, they are technically complex systems that typically fire at a slower rate than traditional manual loading systems used in tanks such as the M1 Abrams.

Engines were installed in the rear compartment to protect vital systems from enemy fire. The turret has corner armor for basic ballistic protection and a 125mm smoothbore main gun (with a smoke vent clearly visible in the middle of the barrel).

The coaxial 7.62mm machine gun was operated by the gunner next to the main gun and was useful when the 125mm weapon was considered "overkill". Commanders have access to externally mounted Soviet-style 12.7mm heavy anti-aircraft machine guns, while a second and possibly third 7.62mm machine gun is mounted on top of the turret.

Along the sides of the turret (or possibly the front panel) are smoke grenade launchers, flanking the base of the main gun.

Power is provided by an unknown 12-cylinder diesel engine with 780 hp. This gives the tank a claimed top speed of 43 mph and a range of about 280 miles. Following Soviet tank practice, it is not entirely unreasonable that an external fuel tank could be mounted to the rear hull of the tank to increase the combat range (this is often seen on the Soviet/Russian T-72).

The engine is connected to a SPAT 1200 series automatic transmission system with a total of six gears.

The gunner received a digital fire control system designed in Slovenia. The system is sophisticated enough to carry out aerial firing, which is often associated with other modern main battle tanks, making it comparable to contemporary tanks anywhere in the world. NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) protection and night vision are standard requirements for the crew.

Laser rangefinders are thought to be a recent addition to tank designs.

Zulfiqar have seen three distinct features of their lineage, referred to simply as "Zulfiqar" 1, "Zulfiqar 2" and "Zulfiqar 3". The Zulfiqar 1 was the first development model to appear in 1994 and ushered in the birth of the Zulfiqar family. By the late 1990s, at least six prototypes of this type had been built and extensively evaluated. The Zulfiqar 2 model is a development variant in which the new engine is housed in an elongated fuselage.

To date, the Zulfiqar 3 model has evolved into the ultimate Zulfiqar, with an all-new automatic loading system and fire control system to enhance its lethality on the battlefield.

Currently (2018), the Iranian Army can deploy up to 150 Zulfiqar 1 MBT variants in addition to 100 Zulfiqar 3 series variants. The prototype of Zulfiqar 2 has been completed.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Performance

Performance

Armor

40 x 125mm bullet.

500x12.7mm ammo.

2,000x7.62mm ammo.

12 x Smoke Grenade.

Changes