Sabalan Tank - M-47 Upgrade (original) (raw)

The Iranian Army would unveil another home-made main battle tank, dubbed as Sabalan, by March 2014, a senior Iranian commander announced on 05 February 2013 on the occasion of the Ten-Day Dawn ceremonies, celebrating the victory of the Islamic Revolution back in 1979. Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan unveiled a home-made turret for M-47 tanks. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ceremony, Pourdastan said the new turret has been manufactured by the Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization of the Army Ground Force. "The (M-47) tank with its new turret will be unveiled under the new name of Sabalan in the near future by Farvardin 1993 (March - April 2014)."

Several pieces of military hardware were unveiled during a ceremony in Tehran on 20 April 2014 with Commander of the Iranian Army�s Ground Forces Brigadier General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan in attendance. Iran�s Sabalan tank has been designed based on the experience and know-how gained from designing the indigenous Zolfaqar and Samsam battle tanks. The tank is armed with a 105mm smoothbore gun, state-of-the-art fire control system and sophisticated communications systems.