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The Al-Zarrar is a modern main battle tank (MBT) developed and manufactured by Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) of Pakistan for the Pakistan Army. The KMDB design bureau of Ukraine also took part in the development project. An upgraded variant of the Chinese Type 59 tank, the Al-Zarrar is supposed to be a cost-effective replacement for the Type 59 fleet of the Pakistan Army. Equipped with modern armament, fire control and ballistic protection, the Al-Zarrar upgrade is also offered by HIT to the armies of foreign countries to upgrade their T-54/T-55 or Type 59 tanks to Al-Zarrar standard. 54 modifications made to the Type 59 make the Al-Zarrar effectively a new tank. The Al-Zarrar development programme started in 1990.HIT began mass production of Al-Zarrar on 6 May 2003 under a renowned Project Manager , Engineer Mahmood Khan .First batch of 88 Al-Zarrar were delivered to the Pakistan Army on 26 February 2004.Delivery ceremony was graced by General Pervez Musharraf. ==History== It was decided by the Pakistan Army that their inventory of Chinese origin Type 59 tanks was too large to be discarded and replaced, so a phased upgrade programme was started by Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) in 1990. The idea was to upgrade the firepower, mobility and protection of the Type 59 to allow it to compete on the modern battlefield at a fraction of the cost of a modern main battle tank (MBT). The first phase of the upgrade programme was completed in 1997. The second phase started in 1998 when HIT began development and testing of a new tank, a Type 59 re-built with over 50 modifications, resulting in three prototypes with slightly differing specifications (different fire-control systems, for example). Many systems originally developed for HIT's Al-Khalid MBT were incorporated. The prototypes underwent extensive testing by HIT and the Pakistan Army, who selected the final version of the tank, dubbed Al-Zarrar. By mid 2004, it was expected that 50 AL-Zarrar tanks would be exported to other countries. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Al-Zarrar」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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