#MOST POWERFUL COUNTRIES BY TANK FORCE UPGRADE#
#MOST POWERFUL COUNTRIES BY TANK FORCE SERIES#

In addition, it tried to replace the Chieftain's power pack with a more robust American engine, but that program did not go beyond the prototype stage due to a lack of replacement engines. Iran has also performed several upgrades to its outdated M47 and M48 tanks over the years, but apparently none of this R&D resulted in a feasible MBT option. The only limiting factor to this approach seems to be the inconsistent availability of T-72 hulls. Instead, Tehran has pursued a more practical modernization option: upgrading its existing fleet of T-72s via defense industries controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Yet the army's Zolfaqar III never entered production for technical and perhaps financial reasons. The latter closely resembled the American M1 Abrams, at least in outward appearance in fact, Iran was rumored to have obtained and examined several disabled Abrams tanks in Iraq following the 2003 U.S. It was followed by the progressively improved Zolfaqar II and III. The first such project was the Zolfaqar/Zulfiqar, a hybrid design combining an M60 power pack and T-72 gun on a chassis developed by the Iranian national army. More examples were obtained from Poland and elsewhere.Īspirations for a fully indigenous MBT came to light soon after the Iran-Iraq War. During the 1990s, Tehran purchased around 400 T-72 tanks from Russia and assembled some of them from knock-down kits in Dorud.

#MOST POWERFUL COUNTRIES BY TANK FORCE UPGRADE#

Iran's main tank factory, located in Dorud in the western province of Lorestan, started out as an upgrade and refurbishment center in the 1960s. Yet the 1979 revolution put an abrupt end to these ambitions, while the ensuing purges and subsequent war with Iraq stretched the country's existing tank units very thin. He also sought to produce the modern British-designed Shir-2 tank in Iran. For this purpose he supervised the purchase of hundreds of American and British tanks (M60 Pattons and Chieftains, respectively). In the 1970s, the shah of Iran envisioned a large modern tank force to defend against a possible Soviet or Iraqi invasion. The Karrar may be an attempt to fill this gap, but its claimed advancements seem exaggerated. At the same time, Iran lacks tanks with the protection, mobility, and firepower to survive on the modern battlefield. Iranian tank crews and technicians have been working closely with Assad regime armor units during the Syria war, giving them insights into their capabilities and limitations in irregular warfare settings. Yet recent events in Syria and Iraq have shown Tehran that modern armor can still be an effective force multiplier in asymmetric situations. In recent years, Iranian military leaders have emphasized asymmetric forms of warfare against more powerful conventional adversaries and assigned only limited roles to tanks.

#MOST POWERFUL COUNTRIES BY TANK FORCE SERIES#

On March 12, Iran unveiled the Karrar (Attacker) tank, which it called its first indigenously designed and developed main battle tank (MBT), with series production at the Bani-Hashem Armor Factory in Dorud. The Syria war will likely spur Tehran to increase the role of armor in its future military planning, but it is still years away from developing an advanced tank force of its own.

Most powerful countries by tank force