Pakistan and Ukraine signed a $600 million Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2016 in a bid to modernize heavy weaponry of the country. The contract was signed between Heavy Industry Taxila (HIT) and Ukraine’s Ukrspecexport to increase bilateral trade relations between the countries.
As part of the same MoU, Ukraine has delivered 6TD-2 engine kits to Pakistan to boost the country’s defence. According to Ukraine’s defence ministry, the MoU will provide “technical service, modernization and maintenance” to Pakistan defence’s tanks.
The Engine Kits
The delivery of engine kits was followed by a press release by Ukrspecexport in which the company explained about the package. According to the press release, the kits contain following equipment;
- Complete engine itself
- Transmission
- Engine maintenance system
- Armored Roof
- Air purification system
The tanks will be 1,200 horsepower 6tD diesel engines considering the details of delivered kits.
This delivery is the fifth one in the line of products that Ukrspecexport has delivered so far since 2016. The engine kits were manufactured at Malushev Plant which is owned and managed by Ukrspecexport itself. The same plant is also working on Oplot-P tanks to run them on trials in Pakistan.
Apart from these kits, Pakistan has also reportedly ordered 200 tanks from the company.
More to Come
In 2017 Pakistan also signed a contract to build 88 tank sights and upgrade t-80UD tanks that they previously bought from Ukraine. The order was at pilot stage and number may increase considering the quality of delivered batch. Pakistan Army is also looking for bids to build 100 MBTs tank lines to complement Al-Khalid series.
There are reports that Malyshev Plants is deeply interested in winning the bid to partner with Pak Army in building the new tank series. Malyshev will face competition from China’s NORINCO which is also looking to win the bid for mega-project.
