Iran unveils Tiam tank

Jeremy Binnie, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
15 April 2016


The Tiam tank unveiled on 13 April along with the Bahman seen in background. Source: IRNA

The Iranian Ground Forces revealed new vehicles on 13 April including the Tiam tank, which appears to be a fusion of US and Chinese tanks.

The Tiam's hull is that of a M47M, a variant of the US M47 that uses the engine from the M60A1 tank. The M47M was produced in Iran from the early 1970s and Iran unveiled a modified version called the Sabalan in April 2014. The Sabalan was armed with what looked like a 105 mm L7-type rifled gun instead of the original 90 mm.

The Tiam also has a 105 mm, but it is mounted in what appears to be the turret from a Chinese Type 59/69 tank. Although based on the T-55, some versions of the Type 59 and Type 69 were armed with an L7-type 105 mm gun instead of the 100 mm fitted to the Soviet tank.

The superstructure of the M47M hull appears to have been raised to accommodate the larger turret basket of the Type 59.

Also unveiled were a self-propelled 57 mm air defence system called the Bahman and a nuclear, biological, and chemical detection (NBC) vehicle called the Shahram.

The Bahman appeared to consist of a cut-down turret from a Soviet ZSU-57-2 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun mounted on the back of a KrAZ 6x6 truck. The system lowers four hydraulic stabilisers before firing.

The Shahram is a BTR-60 armoured personnel carrier fitted with NBC sensors and protection systems.

Various other vehicles and weapon systems were seen during the 13 April event, including several refurbished Shir (Iranian version of the Chieftain) and T-62 tanks.

The new Karrar tank was not unveiled. Iran's defence minister revealed the existence of the tank in February, saying it was at least as capable as the Russian T-90.

Army commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan told journalists during the 13 April event that the Karrar will be "unveiled this or next month".