Heavy_Industries_Taxila Knowpia

Heavy Industries Taxila
Company type	State owned enterprise
Traded as	HIT
Industry	Defence
Founded	1971; 53 years ago in Taxila, Punjab
Founder	Ministry of Defence
Headquarters	Taxila, Pakistan
Key people	Chairman: Lt-Gen. Shakir-ullah Khattak
Products	Vehicular
Owner	Ministry of Defence Production
Website	hit.gov.pk

Heavy Industries Taxila (Reporting name: HIT), (Urdu: ہیوی انڈسٹریز ٹیکسلا‎) is a state-owned enterprise and a defense contractor located in Taxila, Punjab, Pakistan.^[1]^[2]

The HIT is wholly owned owned and sponsored by the Ministry of Defence Production and its programs are managed by Army GHQ who approves its corporate appointments.^[3] The HIT promotes, markets, engineers, develops, and undertakes heavy engineering works for Pakistan's military and for the civilian law enforcement agencies. It has extensive experience in the overhaul and upgrade of tracked armored fighting vehicles for the Pakistan Armed Forces.^[1]^[4]

Besides developing the heavy works, HIT also provides military gears for Pakistan's military, building krytron and developing technology involving the solid-state lighting. In 2004, HIT had a work force of about 6000 engineers and highly skilled persons.^[1]

Production edit

Main battle tanks (MBT) edit

Al-Zarrar – Heavily upgraded Type 59 tank, entered service in 2004.

Al-Khalid – Jointly developed with China, entered service in 2001.
Al-Khalid I – Upgraded variant of Al-Khalid, entered service in 2020.
Al-Khalid II – (under development) – Modernized Al-Khalid successor
Haider MBT – (under development) – Modernized main battle tank

Infantry fighting vehicles (IFV) edit

Viper IFV – The prototype IFV was showcased in IDEAS 2018. The IFV is based on APC Saad/M113 chassis with 6 road wheels, weighs 16 tons, and has appliqué armour. Viper can accommodate 13 fully equipped troops; and has a modified Turra 30 remotely controlled weapon station (RCWS) armed with a Slovak-made Shipunov 2A42 30 mm automatic cannon, Kalashnikov PKT 7.62 mm medium machine gun (MG), two ready-to-use 9M113 Konkurs (AT-6 'Spandrel') anti-tank guided missiles and smoke dischargers.
Al-Hamza – IFV based on APC Saad, fitted with 25 mm automatic cannon. It was developed as an export product and is not in service with the Pakistan Army.^[5]

Armoured personnel carriers (APC) edit

Dragoon II – Armoured multi-role vehicle built with a supervision and support of DUMA Engineering of Belgium.
APC Talha – Armoured personnel carrier based on M113 chassis with five road wheels, accommodates 11 fully equipped troops. 250 delivered to the Pakistan Army by 2006.^[5] Possibly replaced by the APC Saad.
APC Saad – Armoured personnel carrier based on the APC Talha design. Modified with extended hull and six road wheels, 14.5 mm machine gun, improved armour protection and a more powerful engine supplied by Germany's MTU. Accommodates 13 fully equipped troops.

Reconnaissance vehicles edit

Maaz – Based on the APC Talha, armed with the Baktar-Shikan anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) launcher and operated by a crew of four. There is capacity for eight extra rounds and the missile firing unit on the roof is retracted into the cabin for reloading.
Mouz – Talha variant is armed with either the Anza or RBS 70 air-defence missile systems. The missile firing unit on the roof is retracted into the cabin for reloading.^[5]
Sakb – Armoured Command-and-Control vehicle based on APC Talha.^[5]

Engineering & support vehicles edit

Al-Hadeed – Armoured recovery vehicle based on APC Saad.^[5]

Armoured utility vehicles edit

Al-Qaswa – Armoured logistics vehicle based on APC Talha.^[5]^[6]
Mohafiz series – Internal security vehicle
- Mohafiz-II – Based on the Land Rover Defender.^[7]
- Mohafiz-III (Protector) – Based on the Land Cruiser 79.^[7]
- Mohafiz-IV (Interceptor) – Upgraded variant of Mohafiz (vehicle) series based on the Land Cruiser 79.^[7]

Weapons edit

125mm Smooth bore tank gun – for Al-Khalid & Al-Zarrar tanks.^[8]
155mm Self propelled (SP) gun – for M109A2 (overhauled) self-propelled howitzer.

Former products edit

Type 85-IIAP – Chinese main battle tank produced under license.
Type 69-IIMP – Chinese main battle tank produced under license.
M113 – Armoured personnel carrier produced under license. (APC rebuild & overhaul facility is still running).^[1]

References edit

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) GlobalSecurity.org website, Retrieved 28 September 2021
^ Samuel Cranny-Evans (31 July 2020). "Pakistan Army inducts first batch of Al-Khalid-I MBTs (main battle tanks)". Janes.com website. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
^ Associate Press of Pakistan. "Defence Production Minister visits Heavy Industries Taxila". Associate Press of Pakistan website. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
^ Jon Grevatt (3 September 2019). "Pakistan to corporatise Heavy Industries Taxila". Janes.com (defence weekly magazine - UK). Retrieved 29 September 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ARG. "Talha Armored Personnel Carrier". Military-Today.com website. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
^ "Pakistan Army". Pakistan Defence website. 8 August 2008. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c "HIT-Products".
^ "Heavy Industries Taxila (125 mm Tank Gun Barrel)". Depo.org website. 27 September 2007. Archived from the original on 7 February 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2021.