Chinese VT4 MBT tank has arrived in Pakistan for trial tests.

According a tweet released on the twitter account of the Pakistan Defence Command, January 7, 2017, the Chinese-made VT4 main battle tank (MBT) has arrived in Pakistan for trial tests by the Pakistani Army's Armoured Corps. In 2017, Pakistan has showed interest to purchase new main battle tank. The Pakistan Army intends to procure hundreds of new MBTs in the coming years.

Chinese-made VT4 main battle tank in Pakistan for trial tests (Picture source Twitter account Pakistan Defence Command )

Pakistan is also closely following the development of the Turkish-made Altay MBT. Pakistan was first foreign country expressed interest in acquiring the tank in January 2016. In May 2017, Pakistan’s ambassador to Ukraine Athar Abbas revealed that Pakistan could 100 Oplot-M main battle tanks (MBT) from the Malyshev Factory.

Pakistan could be the second foreign customer of the Chinese MBT VT4 after Thailand who has agree the purchase of 29 VT in 2016 and the first tanks were delivered in October 2017.

The VT4 is a new generation of main battle tank designed and manufactured by the Chinese Defense Company NORINCO. According NORINCO, the VT4 is the latest technology of main battle tank especially designed to meet the challenge of high-tech warfare. Its overall performance and combat capability are among the most advanced main battle tanks in the world.

The main armament of the VT4 consists of 125mm smoothbore gun fitted with a thermal sleeve and fume extractor. It is fed by an automatic loader which holds a total of 22 projectiles and charges which can be loaded at the rate of eight per minute. In addition, the tank is equipped with a set of guided weapons, allowing use of a guided missile 9K119 Refleks with a range of up to 5 km.

The combat turret of the VT4 is made of all-welded steel armour construction to which a layer of composite armour has been added over the frontal arc. To increase the body side protection, the VT4 can be fitted with explosive reactive armour (ERA). Stowage baskets are mounted to the rear and each side of the turret.