Iran to Display New Generation of Zolfaqar Tanks in Thursday Parades

A senior commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force announced that the army plans to unveil an upgraded version of the Zolfaqar battle tanks during the military parades on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters, Deputy Commander of the Army’s Ground Force for Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad General Seyed Massoud Reza Zawareh’e said that the Ground Force attaches much importance to firepower, mobility and protection as three major and decisive factors in battlefields and Zolfaqar tanks that use state of the art technology set an example in all these three fields.

“Production of the new generation of the tank has already come on our agenda and its first samples will be displayed in tomorrow’s parades,” he announced.

He further cited Ranger, Samandar and the 2.5-ton Neinava tactical vehicles as among the other major achievements of the Army Ground Force ready to be mass-produced.

The parades mark the start of the Week of Sacred Defense, commemorating Iranian sacrifices during the 8 years of the Iraqi imposed war on Iran in 1980s.

Each year, the Iranian Armed Forces display the country’s latest military achievements and products in nationwide parades on September 22.

Zolfaqar is a second generation of Iran’s main battle tank (MBT). The test prototypes of the tank were evaluated in 1993. Six semi-industrial prototypes of the tank were produced and tested in 1997.

The tank has a distinctive box-shaped, steel-welded turret of local design. Zolfaqar combat weight is reported to be 36 tons and has a 780 hp diesel engine; the tank has a 21.7 hp per ton ratio.

The Zolfaqar is operated by a crew of three personnel. The automatic loader is believed to be the same one from the T-72 tank.

The tank is armed with a 125 mm smoothbore gun 2A46, which is fitted with a fume extractor. Its secondary armament consists of a 7.62 mm coaxial and a 12.7 mm machine gun. For the Zolfaqar fleet, the Ammunition Group of the Iranian Defense Industries Organization mass produces a standard high explosive 23 kilograms (51 lb) propellant charge which fires the 3 kg warhead at a muzzle velocity of 850 meters per second (2,800 ft/s).

The Zolfaqar-1 uses a fire control system which enjoys a ‘fire-on-the-move’ technology. The Zolfaqar mounts a laser-warning pod on the turret. Its design enables the tank to use an Iranian-made package of reactive armor.

Zolfaqar-2 is a prototype tank used as a test bed. The Zolfaqar-3 also features considerable upgrades to the fire control system, chassis, engine and main gun, with a 125mm autoloader.