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EntityQ228820· pop 36· linked from 213 articles

main battle tank

Key facts

Type
Main battle tank
Place of origin
Iran
Used by
Islamic Republic of Iran
Designer
Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization of Islamic Republic of Iran Ground Force
Designed
1993 – Zulfiqar-1 2012 – Zulfiqar-3
Manufacturer
Shahid Kolah Dooz Industrial Complex
Produced
1996–present
Number span no built
~400 Zulfiqar-1 in 2022 750 Zulfiqar-3
Variants
Zulfiqar 1, Zulfiqar 2, Zulfiqar 3
Mass
52 tonnes
Length
9.20 m (30 ft 2 in)
Width
3.6 m (11 ft 10 in)
Height
2.5 m (8 ft 2 in)
Armor
composite armour
Main armament
2A46 125 mm gun
Secondary armament
12.7 mm and 7.62 mm machine guns
Engine
12-cyl. diesel, Zulfiqar 1: 780 hp (630 kW) Zulfiqar 3: AVDS-1790 1000 hp
Power weight
21.7 hp/ton (Zulfiqar 1),17.85 hp/ton (zulfiqar 3)

via Wikipedia infobox

~6 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Zulfiqar (Persian: ذوالفقار) is an Iranian main battle tank, conceived by Brigadier General Mir-Younes Masoumzadeh, deputy ground force commander for research and self-sufficiency of the armed forces. It is named after Zulfiqar, the legendary sword of Ali, the first imam. It's also known as Zolfaqar.

The test prototypes of the tank were evaluated in 1993. Six semi-industrial prototypes of the tank were produced and tested in 1997.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Zulfiqar” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.