Why the Al-Zarrar tank is superior than most people realize?

 Those who are somewhat aware of it's history, their are some people who criticise the tank as being too old, simple upgrade of a Type-59 obsolete tank. They don't seem to realize how different the truth actually is.?

 

Yes, the Al-Zarrar is built upon older Pak Army Type-59s however this statement does not give a clear picture. Zarrar was built upon the old hardened steel armor of the Type-59 which serves as a skeleton but that's where the similarity ends. Everything else on it is new;

The older steel armor is reinforced by outer placed modular composite armor and further protected via ERA armor in crucial frontal sections. The tank is further protected by laser threat warning system , Smoke , NBC, auto fire/explosion suppression system for ammo and crew.

 Their was a image showing a Zarrar after taking direct hits from IED and RPGs during 2007 operation. That was an older concept using appliqué armor(Current ones have composite and ERA). Still the crew was unharmed and remained in the fight so guess how good current one is.

Floor is armor also reenforced with AV-8. For firepower the tank got a 125mm fully stabilized smooth bore coming with thermal imaging, laser range finder , ballistic computer and monitor and more. In addition the commander has IR imaging (Drivers view slots can also be IR).

 I'll skip all the other improvements which are related to mobility (Suspension, engine etc) and optics (Image intensifiers etc) getting to the main point. 

The Al-Zarrar is not old Type-59, it comes with all features needed in a modern tank and it fills a need. Sure it's not among the best out their with it's armor lacking in comparison to true 3rd gen tanks or speed being somewhat limited. But again it fills a need, a need for a reliable in supply tank to deal with Indian T-72 tanks while our best tanks deal with the modern others.

 The Al-Zarrar is more than capable of handling the most numerous Indian T-72 tanks. It has an edge in more superior range and a powerful 125mm gun to knock out those similarly rather old tanks. This way out better tanks can be freed up to deal with Arjun and T-90 tanks.

Hence Al-Zarrar is not only more capable than you thought but also crucial to our armored war capability. We needed a in demand large supply tank and it fulfills it. Hence despite us getting more and more VT-4 ,the Zarrar will stay in service.