The Pakistani Army has received the first of 15 pre-production Al Khalid main battle tanks. These are a variant of the Chinese Type-90-II, using a 125mm smoothbore cannon and an enhanced version of the 1200hp Ukrainian engine used by the T-80UDs already in Pakistani service. The tank has numerous advanced features including a fire suppression system for the crew compartment and another one for the engine compartment, a nuclear-biological-chemical protection system, a dozen decoy/smoke grenade launchers, a muzzle reference system, advanced day/night fire controls, and a retractable dozer blade. The tank mounts a 7.62mm machinegun coaxially with the main gun and a 12.7mm machinegun on a pintel mount on the roof. The steel hull has advanced composite armor blocks, and explosive reactive armor is fitted over the front of the hull and turret.--Stephen V Cole