KIEV, Oct 4: Ukraine will set up a tank maintenance factory in Pakistan, news agencies reported on Thursday.

In a deal worth 30 million dollars, the state-owned Bronitekhnika Ukraina firm will build a facility for performing major overhauls on the Pakistan army’s fleet of T-80UD tanks. Some of the contracts convering the project have already been signed, Bronitekhnika’s director, Yury Mirgorodsky, said while talking to the Interfax.

Ukraine sold Pakistan 320 T-80UD tanks during the late 1990s for 650 million dollars, Ukraine’s single largest weapons deal to date.

The Kharkiv-based Malyshev heavy industrial firm, which built the vehicles, will be the main contractor for the new repair facility. Kharkiv-based Transmashproekt will also participate, Mirgorodsky said.

Malyshev currently produces the T-84 tank, essentially a T-80UD with a more powerful engine, reactive armour, and improved optics and gunnery computers.

The Pakistan facility would likely kit out the country’s tank fleet with similar features, Kievskie Vedemosti newspaper reported.

Pakistan and Ukraine have agreed to jointly produce a next-generation tank, called the “Al Khalid”. An initial production run of 300 vehicles is planned. No timetable has been set for the first vehicle’s assembly.

For the Al Khalid to come into production, Pakistan and Ukraine would have to solve the problems of manufacturing all vehicle components within the two countries, setting up a fully-fledged tank assembly line in Pakistan, and financing the operation.—dpa