New Delhi. China has begun delivering new VT4 main battle tank from the Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group Company Ltd, subsidiary of China North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO), reports said.
In mid-April, at the Chinese tank factory located in Baotou in the province of Inner Mongolia, was held the ceremony of shipment of the first batch of VT4 main battle tanks equipped with explosive reactive armour (ERA) (Option FY-IV) for a foreign customer.
According to Chinese media reports Pakistan is the foreign customer for these tanks that were produced after the country began emerging from the Coronavirus crisis.
In 2019, the Pakistan Army Armoured Corps has selected the Chinese VT4 tank – produced by Norinco – to meet requirements for procuring hundreds of new main battle tanks.
A military analyst, Muzammil Hatami announced the selection of the Norinco VT4 for increasing of Pakistani armoured vehicle fleet.
“VT4 has confirmed for future Pakistan army tank and Alkhalid II main battle tank is in developing phase,” – said Muzammil Hatami during 10th International IDEAS defence exhibition in Karachi.
The VT4 is a third-generation MBT offered for export by Norinco. It is an improvement over the Al-Khalid MBT (also known as MBT-2000), which is currently in service with Pakistan Army, although it retains the 125 mm main gun, carousel auto-loader, and crew configuration of the older vehicle.
Despite the fact that the future tank’s tender details were kept as a secret, it was reported that Pakistan might procure around 100 MBTs in order to meet the deficiency of MBT production in the country.
According to reports, NORINCO delivered the first of 17 military vehicles compromising of VT4 main battle tanks, SH5 105mm wheeled self-propelled howitzers.
