Iran: Karrar home-made tanks to be delivered soon.

Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari, Commander of Iran’s Army Ground Force, said the locally made tank “Karrar” is slated to be employed by the armed forces in a near future.

Karrar, the most advanced Iranian home-made tank (Picture source: Iranian MoD)

Brig.Gen. Heidari said on 15 February in Tehran that the Karrar’s earlier version is already in service, together with other locally-made tanks like the Zolfaqar. The updated version that benefit from the last tests will be delivered to the army in “a near future”.

The Karrar (Striker, in English) is a main battle tank (MBT) fully developed and designed by the Iranian defense industry. This tank was unveiled for the first time to the public in August 2016. A video footage from Iranian Television "Telewebion" was published on YouTube, showing the Karrar during trials in the desert. In March 2017, the Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan inaugurated the production line of the new home-made Karrar main battle tank at the Bani-Hashem Armor Industrial Complex, in Dorud County, Lorestan.

According to military experts, the Karrar MBT is based on the chassis of the Soviet-made T-72 but fitted with a new turret. The design of the tank seems to be very similar to the Russian-made T-90MS. According to retired Major General Vladimir Bogatyrev, the Karrar is a copy of the Russian-made T-90MS, the most advanced modification of the T-90 family but it uses some features of the American M1 Abrams and British Challenger 2. Russian military expert suggested that, in terms of certain military capabilities, the Karrar is unlikely to match the Russian T-90.

In recent years, Iranian military experts and technicians have made significant headways in manufacturing a broad range of indigenous equipment, making the armed forces self-sufficient in the arms sphere.

 Brigadier General Kiomars Heidari, Commander of Iran’s Army Ground Force, said the locally made tank “Karrar” is slated to be employed by the armed forces in a near future.