KUALA LUMPUR: The top and bottom pictures are those of the Al Khalid MBT from Pakistan. The pictures was taken by Malaysian Defence in November last year during the IDEAS exhibition in Karachi.

The three other pictures are the PT91 MBTs of Kor Armor DiRaja which made its debut during the Merdeka parade last week.

Both the two MBT shared one common heritage, both are modernised versions of the venerable Soviet MBT the T72.

The Al Khalid was the product of Pakistan-Chinese venture, although near all the dimensions much to the T72 design.

The turret of the AL Khalid of course of a newer Chinese design, it has flat surfaces unlike the rounded turret of the PT91. Both are equipped with ERA armour, with the Al Khalid ERA armour placed into a V-shape not unlike those on the Leopard A5 MBTs

The Malaysian and Pak MBTs are equipped with the 125mm cannon (on the AlKhalid is a Chinese copy) and the automatic gun loader. There is no co-axial gun but both are equipped with an anti-aircraft guns, which can be fired under armour.

Malaysian vehicles are equipped with the Browning 50 cal machine guns while the Pak vehicles used the DSH machine guns.

The Al Khalid uses an Ukrainian design diesel engine while our PT91 uses a Polish design diesel engine.

Both MBTs however used, perhaps the same fire control systems as the Al Khalid and PT91 are equipped with the French made Sagem electronics.

If you look closely at the commander and gunner turret on both tanks, they look distinctly similar.

— Malaysian Defence

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