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The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, yesterday saw up close the capabilities of the newest addition to the army's arsenal - the PT-91M main battle tank - at the Gemas Camp.
Tuanku Mizan arrived at the 11th Regiment of the Royal Armoured Corps in the morning and was received by the army's field commander, Lt Gen Datuk Zulkifeli (correct) Mohd Zain, 1st Brigade commander Brig-Gen Datuk Shahrani Mohd Seny and chairman of the Royal Armoured Corps Brig-Gen Datuk Che Hasni Che Ahmad.
He was briefed on the operations of the tank by the tank project team leader Colonel Mohd Safian Mohd Ali. The king then proceeded to test drive the tank around the parade grounds before taking it to the camp?s firing range, 5km away.
ThereAt the firing range, Tuanku Mizan fired six armour-piercing 125mm rounds, 200 7.62mm machine gun rounds and 200 12.7mm machine gun rounds. The PT-91M tanks, nicknamed 'Twardy', are a modernised version of the T-72M1 Polish-Russian variant. with the affix "M" denoting Malaysia.
The tank was designed by Obrum (Osrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy Urzadzen Mechanicznych) at the Research and Development Centre of Mechanical Systems Obrum and is produced by Bumar Labedy.
The tanks entered service with the Polish army in 1995. The government purchased 48 of the PT-91M tanks at a cost of RM1.4 billion. The first six arrived in August while the rest are expected next year.
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