New Iranian Tank Abomination

Iran has recently unveiled their latest tank, and it is pretty special to say the least. This is one of several different modernizations Iran has come up with in the past several years, most of which I have already covered on my channel. This one in question is a modernization of the Iranian M60A1 tanks to try to bring them to a somewhat modern standard, and bears the name Sulayman 402. At the first glance it might seem like a decent tank, but since Iran wants to entire M60A1 fleet of 150 tanks, they can't have this be an expensive upgrade, and it really shows. First unusual thing you might notice is this shield around the main gun of the tank. This is really reminiscent of the shield we have seen on the Karar tank on several occasions, but it seems they have decided against it since the last time we have seen the Karar tank, the gun shield was not present, and for a good reason, it doesn't really do much, if anything. It's a thin piece of metal, best it would stop is some light frag, but light fragmentation wouldn't be able to damage the gun anyway, so I really do not see the point of it, any autocannon would zip straight through as well. It might be there only for some visual reasons, to make the tank appear more menacing or something. We can also see that it is extremely thin, most of it has bumps and bent places which probably occurred in transport or during some trials. All this shield would actually do is add more weight to the front making it harder to balance the gun and stabilize it properly. In some pictures, the gun shield is not present on the tank, so I really hope it is just a one-time thing for the reveal and that they will decide against it, just like they did with the Karar. Another thing that really sticks out on the tank are the dazzlers like on the Russian T-90A tank, and this is honestly the worst thing they could have put on this tank. I know a lot of you believe that these dazzlers are there to prevent enemy ATGMs from hitting the tank, but they no longer work. They only worked decades ago against old SACLA's guided ATGMs, but anything made after the Cold War can easily slip past them. That is why Russians decided to remove them from the T-90 with the T-90M modernization, and why most countries getting the T-90s ordered them without the dazzlers. Iraqi T-90S is a prime example of that. Worst thing about them is that, because they are mounted on the turret's front, they prevent any additional protection from being installed, and are thus doing quite the opposite from what they are supposed to do, they actually reduce the overall protection of the vehicle. And we can see that there is Explosive Reactive Armor now mounted on the turret front, except it is placed on a very small area because the dazzlers are taking up a lot of space on the turret. The hull also appears to have some form of AXI protection. It is not completely clear if this is Composite Armor or Explosive Reactive Armor, but to me it seems like it is actually Explosive Reactive Armor, because under the external plate with the anti-slip coating, there appear to be several panels of something, so most likely some type of ERA, done in a similar fashion like Contact 5 on the T-72 and T-90 tanks, several explosive panels under a bigger steel plate. The lower front plate of the hull is also equipped with what appears to be Explosive Reactive Armor. It is not clear what ERA that is exactly or how much protection it offers, but judging by its dimension and this being, well, not the most expensive upgrade, I'd assume it's not that great. It is probably meant to protect the tank against standard RPG rockets and old ATGMs. Biggest problem when it comes to the protection is the base armor of the M60A1 itself. If this ERA was placed on top of something like a T-72, it would probably not be that bad, but since M60 has just regular steel armor, putting ERA on top isn't going to do a massive difference. It will be an improvement, but you can't expect it to stop many threats out there. That is probably why they are coping with the The side of the turret also appears to have some extra protection, although it does appear that this is just regular spaced steel armor, since in a couple of pictures and some shots, it does seem to be relatively thin. This is not that surprising considering they have done the same on the hull sides, so the overall physical protection of this tank is not really that good, especially on the side. Now for some good things actually. The tank has laser warning receivers, which is a pretty nice feature since it is supposed to warn the crew when the tank is being glazed by a laser rangefinder or laser guided missiles. Well, supposed to, but we don't know how good these receivers actually are. If they do work properly, then at least the protection isn't entirely terrible. Another good thing are the upgrades to the fire control system. The tank received thermal sights for both gunner and commander. Gunner received a modern looking sight, similar to what we have seen on some modern L1 vehicles, but I wasn't able to find any details about it unfortunately. The commander received a remotely operated weapon station with integrated thermals, but it is not clear if he can use it to override the turret for the hunter killer capability, or if it is just a plain and simple remote weapon station. And on top of that, the tank has received a meteorological sensor for the ballistic computer to take into account the external factors for improved accuracy. This tank is not the first modernization program that Iran has undertaken, since Iran has several different variants of tanks, case in point, the M60 and the D72s. Instead of actually opting to reduce the amount of different models of vehicles they have in service, they are choosing to upgrade their fleet as much as possible, possibly because they are unable to acquire new tanks. Couple of years ago they presented the T-72 modernization, after presenting their new Karar main battle tank. Neither seem to have advanced much, but it is not entirely clear what their focus will be. They definitely would prefer Karar, but Karar is much more expensive, since it requires a completely new turret, while the T-72 modernization retains most of the elements of the original vehicle. Karar has reportedly already entered service, but we aren't seeing it a whole lot, so that is why I am not certain about its future. Since Soleymane 402 is a relatively inexpensive upgrade for the M60 tanks, I actually do expect them to go forward with the modernization of their M60 fleet, it's just that I don't really see this as a good tank. Some of the design choices, especially the dazzlers, are just weird, to say the least. That would be all for now, if you like my content you can support me on Patreon. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you all in the next video. Have a nice day.