Heavy Industries Taxila to Develop Advanced Protection for Tanks

Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) recently announced plans to advance its tank technology by developing an Active Protection System (APS) for main battle tanks (MBTs).

The announcement came through a tender issued by HIT’s Advanced Research Development and Information Center (ARDIC), calling for testing and radar equipment for the project.

An APS is a defensive technology designed to protect armored vehicles by detecting and neutralizing incoming threats, such as anti-tank missiles or loitering munitions. APS suites typically comprise two key components: sensors to identify threats and mechanisms to intercept them.

Threat-neutralization systems within APS may use either ‘soft-kill’ methods, like smoke or infrared emitters to confuse incoming missiles, or ‘hard-kill’ methods, which aim to destroy the threat by intercepting it directly.

ARDIC is requesting specific equipment to begin its APS work, including radar sensing units and a radar emulator, and is suggesting a radar-based approach for threat detection. However, the exact mechanism for intercepting threats remains unspecified in the tender, leaving open whether HIT will employ a hard-kill or soft-kill solution.

It is also unclear if this APS project is intended for Pakistan’s fleet of tanks, such as the Haider VT-4 and Al-Khalid series, or if it may serve international clients. However, one of HIT’s ongoing goals with the Haider MBT project is indigenizing subsystems to reduce reliance on foreign components.

ARDIC has already made strides in local tank technology in recent years, creating original fire control and gun control systems for the Haider. HIT also produces the main gun system for the Haider, indicating that the APS program could represent another step toward localizing advanced technology in Pakistan’s tank production.