16 February 2006

PT-91 Twardy MBT

During the Mahathir regime, Malaysia spent 275 million US dollars purchasing forty-eight PT-91 'Twardy' main battle tanks (MBT) from Poland. Fourteen support vehicles for these tanks were also purchased.

That would work out to be over 5 million US dollars per tank.

According to this report, the 48 MBTs were delivered by 2004:

"48 PT-91 tanks and 14 support vehicles, part of a package to be purchased from Poland, would be delivered by 2004, Najib told reporters after meeting visiting Polish Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski at his office here.

The PT-91 tanks would be the best and most sophisticated in its class in Southeast Asia, he added. "

It is also noted in a source that Malaysia acquired a PT-91 variant of which little is known beyond that it is a modernised PT-91.

PT-91
Combat Weight: 45.5 tonnes
Maximum Road Speed 60 km/h
Maximum Cross - Country Speed 45 km/h
Ground Pressure 0.94 kg/cm2
Power to Weight ratio 18.76 hp/tonne
Engine: Model S12-U, diesel
Gross Horsepower: 850 hp
Main Gun: 125 mm, Model 2A46, Smooth-bore
Ammunition: 42 Rounds, APFSDS, HEAT, HE, WP
Loading: Automatic
Fire Rate up to 8 rounds/min (if the autoloader works)

PT-91 main battle tanks are a Polish development of the Russian T-72M1 which are commonly found in the arsenals of former Warsaw Pact countries. Many of these nations have now built their variants of the T-72 including the Ukraine, Croatia, Serbia (Yugoslavia), Slovenia and more.

It would be interesting to know how the PT-91 fit in the doctrine and organisation of the Malaysian army which has previously operated 90mm gun-armed Scorpion light tanks of British origin (and is still operating them.)

In South-East Asia, Vietnam fields some older T-55s of the Vietnam War vintage. Most other countries field light tanks, older tanks of the early Cold War vintage, nothing comparable to the PT-91 MBTs.

Sources for this entry include the PT-91 entry in FAS, PT-91 entry in Wikipedia and of course, certain books.

7 comments:

Merv Kwok said...

im msia, we use mbt's to knock down trees n stuff for logging. much faster than the chainsaw! haha

Anonymous said...

Yes, weapons to intimidate others I suppose ... in the name of self-defence ... hmmm ... or the other way round.

Those tanks look huge and I wonder how effective they are in the jungle warfare as oppose to their more natural flat terrain warfare.

hhhmmmmm ...

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Merv, they can use to kill those do-gooder, environmentally-conscious anti-logging activists too! Hahahahaha. But you can't can't command one, Merv. You're Chinese. Hahahahahaah.

Anonymous said...

No, no you can still join the new Msia national service where perhaps by then you get the chance to polish the tank or oil the gun barrel ....

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Anonymous 1, yes, main battle tanks in the name of self-defence. What will Mahathir think of next? Heheh. Like you said, one wonders how effective the 40+ tons tanks will be in the confined jungles of the region. I wonder why the Mahathir regime initiated that purchase.

Anonymous 2, the Malaysian national service apparently involves one in wearing blue striped uniforms and sleeping in camps. Heheheheh. Polishing tanks and gun barrels are apparently not part of the service!

Anonymous said...

Tanks are only as useful as the person who commands it.

As for the M'sia national service ... yes, sleeping in camps and get bullied by some dirty old men. I guess polishing tanks should leave to the elite commandos ...

Chuang Shyue Chou said...

Regarding 'bullied by dirty old men', I read reports of alleged rapes. Are those true?

I also heard that they don't get to shoot weapons in NS and that it is a six-month affair, simply not enough to turn anyone into any form of military man or woman. Is that true?



You are right regarding command. The tanks can only be as good as the person who commands them and if there is a doctrine developed as to its use. Operational procedures, plans, tactics, etc.