His team modified the tank to accept a foreign-built engine. The Project Director at Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) Brigadier Nasir Mahmood SI(M) led Pakistan's first indigenously produced tank from conception to production. Pakistan spent more than USD $20 million over the next eight years on the co-development of a model suitable for its needs and on creating a capability to manufacture it locally. Pakistan completed its manufacturing plant at Taxila in 1992. Initial Chinese-built prototypes were tested in Pakistan in August 1991.

Thus, in 1980, Norinco was formed and the Inner Mongolia First Machine Group Corporation was tasked with developing a series of new tanks.Ī joint development deal was signed with Pakistan in January 1990. The China's People's Liberation Army was concerned about the Soviet threat, and requested an improved main battle tank (MBT) to replace the old and obsolete Type 59 tank.

This article possibly contains original research. The country placed an order with Ukraine to further upgrade the tanks with a new engine. The first production models entered service with the Pakistan Army in 2001. The current production variant of the Al-Khalid uses a diesel engine and transmission supplied by the KMDB design bureau of Ukraine. Al-Khalid is named after the 7th-century Muslim commander Khalid bin al-Walid (592–642 AD). Operated by a crew of three and armed with a 125 mm smooth-bore tank gun that is reloaded automatically, the tank uses a fire-control system and night-fighting equipment. It was trialled by the Peruvian Army for possible acquisition, but was not purchased due to financial problems. The Norinco-made MBT-2000 is also used by the Royal Moroccan Army. The Bangladesh Army ordered 44 MBT-2000s from China in 2011. Around 310 Al Khalid MBTs had been produced by 2014. It is based on the Chinese Type 90-IIM tan, whose original prototype was developed by China North Industries Corporation (Norinco) under the name MBT-2000. The Al-Khalid ( Urdu: الخالد ٹینک- Al-Xālid Ṫaiŋk, pronounced literally 'The Eternal Tank') is a Pakistani main battle tank developed by Heavy Industries Taxila since the 1990s.

Al khalid 2 main battle tank