Iran’s military officially unveiled its newest Karrar main battle tank

Mar 12, 2017


Photo by Sheykh Babak‏

Iranian armed forces officially unveiled its newest Karrar main battle tank.

The Karrar is an upgraded version of T-72S Shilden tank. The layout of the Karrar seems to be similar to the Russian-made T-90MS but with some specific features.

Lieutenant Commander of the Iranian Ground Force Brigadier General Kioumars Heidari announced that his forces have been equipped with the home-made state-of-the-art tanks named ‘Karrar’ with features similar to the Russian T-90 tanks.

“Karrar tanks have been delivered to the combat units of the Ground Force,” General Heidari told reporters In August 2016.

He also underlined plans to mount new, advanced and state-of-the-art systems on Karrar and Zulfiqar tanks.

The Karrar main battle tank is fitted with new explosive reactive armor (ERA) at the hull front, the hull sides and supposedly at the turret. The rear is protected by slat armor, while side skirts made of rubber with a wave-shaped paSourcettern are installed at the hull sides below the ERA. The tank is also fitted with a new remote weapon station (RWS).

The main armament of the Karrar could be a 125 mm smoothbore gun. A remote weapon station is mounted on the top of the turret which can be armed with a 12.7 mm or 14.5mm heavy machine gun.