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according to the latest disclosed information, iran has recently finalized the "suleiman-402" tank, and the iranian army stated that the tank has been put into service. this is the second western tank to be upgraded and put into service in batches after the "warrior", which is an upgrade of the "chieftain". however, after iran has the ability to produce t-72, that is, their own "karrar" tank, from raw materials, it has turned back to continuously upgrade old western tanks, which is a question worth savoring.

the iranian army publicly announced that the "suleiman-402" tank was put into service

the "suleiman-402" tank is actually an upgraded version of the m60

this time, the iranian army did not give a detailed introduction to the specific upgrades of the "suleiman-402" tank, but it did disclose a large number of photos. based on the photos, we can roughly figure out what aspects iran has upgraded, but the specific situation is not as clear as the "warrior" tank. the so-called "suleiman-402" tank is actually iran's upgraded version of the original american m60 tank. according to incomplete statistics, iran was equipped with at least 460 m60s that year, but now there are only about 150 left, which is slightly more than the "chieftain". iran has been "making trouble" on the m60 for many years, but most of them are "performance art". this time it should be serious.

the new car has significantly enhanced protection and a higher level of informationization

iran upgraded the turret of the m60, mainly to enhance the protection level. additional armor was installed on the front. i think it may not be explosive reactive armor, but more like additional armor similar to the soviet "eyebrows", or more advanced composite armor. there is also a whole additional protection module on the side of the turret, but it is not clear what it looks like inside, so it is impossible to estimate its defensive effect; the gun is installed with an outer cover, probably to enhance concealment. the body is also mainly for increased protection, including additional armor on the front and side skirts on the sides. however, the lower front armor block of the body is similar to the front of the turret, but the upper front is obviously different.

in terms of the appearance of the new tank, the turret is more fashionable, but the body is very rustic

the main outer cover is really not good enough

install the "curtains" in the car

remote weapon station

in fact, the two biggest points of this upgrade are electronic equipment. first, a "curtain" system was installed on the m60. according to comments on the internet, iran should have a russian-made "curtain" system, and should also have self-developed equipment with similar principles but better performance. this time, the "curtain" system was used for improvement, at least drawing on some experience from the russian-ukrainian battlefield. in addition, the newly added radiation sensors, new weapons, and new communication systems indicate that the iranian army has gradually begun to pay attention to informatization, or has begun to have the ability to upgrade its own equipment.

unlike the improved chieftain, the improved m60 does not involve the powertrain.

however, all the information shows that iran should not have upgraded the power system of the m60. looking back at iran's upgrade of the "chieftain", the core is to replace the power transmission system, using the full power system of the russian-made t-72 to replace the original one, that is, the 840-horsepower diesel engine and the single-flow transmission system. in theory, the power transmission system of the original "chieftain" is downgraded except for the engine power, but at least it can maintain logistical commonality with iran's large number of t-72 series tanks. this is what we see when the iranian army mixes the "karrar" (t-72) and the "warrior" (chieftain) into the same armored division. as for other aspects, iran has neither upgraded the protection of the "chieftain" nor made obvious upgrades to the electronic equipment and fire control system.

i have my own views on these practices of the iranian army.

in fact, it is still a contradiction between the production capacity and demand of the main advanced tanks.

these more than 100 "warriors" are still not enough for iran.

these performances show that iran has not really thought about how to upgrade these "pattons". m47 chassis + t-55 turrets. wg games should ask them to go

these five pairs of road wheels called t-72z are no longer suitable for modern combat environments.

first of all, when the russian advanced tanks are already in mass production (russia-ukraine conflict shows that t-72 series tanks are not so fragile), it is necessary to spend experience to upgrade western weapons of a completely different system. at least it shows that the gap between the demand and production capacity of advanced armored equipment of the iranian army is still relatively large. compared with the us army or the people's liberation army, the armored forces are no longer the spearhead equipment of the army's mechanized infantry division or the combined army, but have become basic equipment, which puts forward requirements for the number of tanks. at present, the total number of iranian army tanks is about 1,500, but among these tanks, there are at least 600-700 old t-54/55 series (including china's 59/69), t-62 series (including north korea's pegasus 1) and m47/48 series tanks, that is, about one-third are old equipment. the old soviet tanks have completed limited upgrades, but in fact they no longer have modern combat capabilities. the us-made m47/48 is in a retired state and has not even been upgraded. this is obviously not suitable for the iranian army, which has a strong demand for advanced equipment.

in fact, iran's "old patton" (m47/48) is still a good main battle tank after being upgraded like the "suleiman-402".

western tanks are relatively large, but now this has become an advantage. after all, the larger the size, the greater the upgrade potential. if the t-55 is equipped with the full set of "suleiman-402" upgrade systems, the people in the tank will be squeezed to death, but the m60 can still withstand it effectively. so i have a bold estimate that iran chose to upgrade the "chieftain" at that time, and it may have considered that the layout of the chieftain's power transmission device can adapt to the ability to replace the t-72, so it upgraded it very early. there are even reports that in order to find more "chieftains", iran even contacted other countries to obtain them from the desert.

iran can consider exchanging some "patton" from taiwan. after all, the maintenance level of taiwan's pseudo-army is very good.

however, the m60 upgrade this time obviously does not mean to unify the power system with the t-72. i estimate that this may be due to the fact that the power system of the "patton" series tanks is the same. the total number of iranian "patton" tanks has reached at least 300, and there is also a foundation for the support of american tanks before, so iran is likely to go back and upgrade the m47/48 series tanks after upgrading the m60. in fact, these two early "patton" can also be upgraded completely according to the m60 model. if this is true, then the iranian army can obtain at least 300 modern main battle tanks. maybe this time iran will go around and exchange these old "pattons".

maybe one day we will hear that iran has fully upgraded its "scorpion" light tank.

if this is the case, it is estimated that iran will form armored or mechanized divisions with "warrior" (chieftain), "karrar" (t-72), "suleiman-402" (m60) and m47/48 that will be upgraded according to this model in the future. as for the old t-54/55/62 series tanks, they will be given to infantry divisions for use.