 BEIJING, Mar. 29 -- The China-made VT4 main battle tank (MBT) joined the Pakistan Day military parade for the first time in Islamabad on March 25. According to news from the Pakistan newspaper Dawn, a seven-tank cavalry with the VT4 tank leading three Al-Khalid tanks and three T-80UD tanks spearheaded other mechanical formations during the military parade. Manufactured by the China North Industries Corp. (NORINCO), the VT4 tank is an export-oriented third-generation main battle tank with a main gun caliber of 125mm. It can launch Armor Piercing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS), high explosive anti-tank cartridge (HEAT) and fragmentation-blast shell, with an armor-piercing capacity of 700mm, which can be augmented to 1,000mm when matched with new-type armor-piercing shells. The VT4 tank now adopts the China-made power module instead of the one imported from Ukraine used in VT1 tank. Such a substitution of power module has realized a major improvement on the VT4 tank, giving it a maximum speed of 70km per hour. It is learned that the China-made export-oriented VT-4 MBT made its debut at the opening ceremony of the 10th China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition on November 11, 2014. It has been purchased by Thailand, Nigeria, and Pakistan. In addition, multiple other China-made weapons and equipment also showed in the Pakistan Day military parade as part of the engineering equipment formation, air-defense weapon formation, and strategic equipment formation. The China-made Z-9 helicopter, JF-17 Thunder fighter jet co-developed by China and Pakistan, and K-8 training plane piloted by Pakistan Lion Aerobatic Team also flew during the parade. Pakistani President Arif Alvi delivered a speech at the military parade, saying that Pakistan is fully capable of defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Pakistan wishes for peace, security and development for the whole region and has taken concrete steps toward that goal. He stressed that China is Pakistan’s true friend on the way to regional peace and development, and thanked the Chinese government and people for providing Pakistan with COVID-19 vaccines. |
