From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zulfiqar
Zulfiqar 1 in action
Type	Main battle tank
Place of origin	Iran
Service history
Used by	Iran
Production history
Designed	1993
Produced	1996 – current
Variants	Zulfigar 2, Zulfigar 3
Specifications
Weight	40 tonnes (Zulfiqar 1)
Crew	3-4
Primary armament	125mm smoothbore
Secondary armament	12.7mm machine gun
Engine	12-cyl. diesel 780 hp (630 kW)(Zulfiqar 1)
Power/weight	20 hp/ton
Suspension	torsion-bar
Speed	70 km/h

Zulfiqar (or Zolfaqar) is an Iranian main battle tank, named after a legendary sword. Born as the brainchild of Brigadier General Mir-Younes Masoumzadeh, deputy ground force commander for research and self-sufficiency of the armed forces, the tank is developed from major components of the Russian T-72 and American M48 and M60 tanks.

One of the features of the Zulfiqar tank which has drawn the attention of the Defense Ministry is that indigenously-made parts have been used in it. The testing prototypes of the tank were tested in 1993. Six semi-industrial prototypes of the tank were produced and tested in 1997.

The tank is armed with a 125mm smoothbore gun fitted with a fume extractor which may be fed from an automatic loader. It is known that the Zulfiqar uses suspension like that fitted to Western MBTs such as the M48/M60 MBT. The diesel engine is not taken from the T-72 since this has a distinct exhaust outlet on the left side of the hull. This feature is absent on the Zulfiqar.

The Zulfiqar has a distinctive box-shaped turret unlike the characteristic boat-shaped turret of the T-72 and appears to have a different exhaust system. The Zulfiqar is a 40 tonne vehicle with a 1,000 hp diesel engine and a 125 mm smooth bore gun. For the Zulfiqar/T-72 fleet, the Ammunition Group of the Iranian Defense Industries Organization mass produces a standard High Explosive 23 kilogram tank shell firing a 3 kg warhead out the muzzle at 850 meters per second.

Zulfiqar 2, rear view

In April 1997 Acting Commander of the Ground Forces of the Iranian Army, Lieutenant General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani announced that the mass production of Zulfiqar tanks, which began in 1996, was still in progress. He stated that the manufacture of 520 different kinds of tank parts, 600 artillery parts, repair of 500 tanks and armored vehicles have been carried out. In late July 1997 Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani formally inaugurated a production line for the domestically manufactured Zulfiqar main battle tanks and Boragh tracked armoured personnel carrier. The facility, the Shahid Kolah Dooz Industrial Complex, will also produce the BMP-2 armored personnel carrier.

The most advanced of these, the Zulfiqar-3, is based on earlier American tanks, primarily the M-60 acquired under the pre-revolution era. The Zulfiqar-3 also features considerable upgrades to the fire control system, chassis, engine and main gun, with a 125mm autoloader. The Zulfiqar-1 is reportedly in service with certain elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (Pasdaran) and the Zulfiqar-2 is reportedly a test bed for future designs and upgrades. The Zulfiqar-3 is believed to have recently entered serial production.

• Iranian military industry
• Current Equipment of the Iranian Army
• Iran's missile forces

• Source

• ACIG.org: Photos of the Zulfiqar 3 at a 2003 parade in Tehran
• IranDefence.net: New Zulfiqar 3 Photos
• Zulfiqar. Military. globalsecurity.org.

Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Iranian Army | Iranian Navy | Iranian Air Force | Islamic Revolutionary Guards