KARACHI, Sept 17: President Gen Pervez Musharraf here on Tuesday witnessed an operational mobility demonstration of ‘Al-Khalid’ tank, APCs, battle trucks and Pakistan-made Defender Land Rover vehicle.

He appreciated the high standard of these domestic productions and their professional display. He said these “are envy of any fast-advancing and confident nation.”

The president remained at the open venue outside the defence exhibition, IDEAS-2002, for over half an hour, along with delegates from over 50 countries, high military and civil officials, and hardware experts.

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Gen Muhammad Aziz Khan, Vice-Chief of the Army Staff, Gen Muhammad Yusuf, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal, Mushaf Ali Mir and Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Abdul Aziz Mirza also attended the dashing mobility demo.

The foreign delegates took photographs of the items on display and heaped praises on the quality, excellence, high manoeuvrability and professional standard of the Pakistan-produced Al-Khalid tank, APCs and battle trucks.

Pakistan is now locally producing four variants of the UK-based Land Rover, which had been inducted into the Pakistan army in the sixties. The vehicle is noted for its simplicity of configuration and versatile qualities.

The defence sources said the other variants included station wagons and utility trucks.

The HIT, they said, is producing standard APCs. The new version can carry 13 individuals with equipment, with ease and comfort, at a speed of up to 60km per hour. It can withstand any nuclear or chemical onslaught, and is fitted with 27.4mm gun that can fire 600 rounds per minute.

The Al-Khalid Main Battle Tank, also manufactured by the HIT, has a cruising range of 430km. This battle machine can move in all weather conditions, and is not constrained by daytime or nighttime.

The turret of the tank carries 16 grenade barrels of 39mm each besides the main gun of 125mm.

A state-of-the-art ammunition has been developed by the Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF), Wah, to be fired by the tank.

Al-Zarrar tank, a modern version of over four decades old T-59-type moving battle machine, also demonstrated practical manoeuvres.

The tank, fitted with 125mm gun with semi-automatic loader, has a fire extinguishing and explosion suppression system. —APP