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The
Type 59G Durjoy, sometimes known as
Type 59G, is a highly modernized version of the Chinese
Type 59 tank for the
Bangladesh Army. The Bangladesh Army's old Type 59 tanks were upgraded similarly to Type 59G standard at
902 Central Workshop of the
Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory with Chinese assistance.
The Bangladesh Army renamed the tank as
Durjoy (
Bengali: দুর্জয়).
History
The Bangladeshi Army required armoured vehicles with limited weight but good protection, firepower and speed. Between the 1980s and the early 2000s, the army had hundreds of
Type 59 tanks which stayed in service until 2015. The
Bangladesh Army decided to upgrade all the remaining functional tanks because the rebuilding process of a tank costs one third of buying a new one.
During this process, only the hull of the original tank is used and all the other aspects are upgraded.
BMTF upgraded 174 type 59 tanks to Durjoy standard.
Description
The tank uses the basic Type 59 hull which is 6.04 metres (19.8 ft) long, 3.27 metres (10.7 ft) wide and has a height of 2.59 metres (8 ft 6 in). The tank weighs 40 tonnes (39 long tons; 44 short tons) package.
The Durjoy uses a 730 horsepower (540 kW)
diesel engine and has a power to weight ratio of 17.4 hp per tonnes. The maximum speed of the vehicle varies: in fact the tank can run at 49 kilometres per hour (30 mph) max. The tanks range is 450 kilometres (280 mi). It is equipped with
rubber padded tracks to navigate softer soils and swamps. The tank has five road wheels on each side with a prominent gap between the first and second road wheel. The track is driven by a drive sprocket at the rear, with an idler at the front. It is notable that there are no return rollers. The
suspension is a
torsion bar system. The engine exhaust is on the left fender.
The Durjoy tanks require a crew of 4 people which includes commander, driver, gunner and loader. Unlike the basic Type 59, the Durjoy has an air conditioning system to increase crew comfort and complete
NBC protection.
Protection

Side view of Durjoy MBT
The primary protection system of the tank is made of a layer of thick steel
modular composite armour. To increase protection against
APFSDS,
HEAT and
ATGM rounds, there is Chinese 3rd generation
explosive reactive armour on the tank's front and turret. Besides, there is
cage armour at the back of the turret to increase the protection level. Smoke grenade launchers are fitted to each side of the turret. A collective
fire suppression system is added to increase the crew survivability rate. The tanks are equipped with a
laser warning receiver to give a warning when it's targeted by an enemy
laser range-finder or
laser designator.
Armaments

125 mm main gun of Type 59 Durjoy
The Durjoy tank has a 125 mm
smoothbore gun which is the tank's primary weapon. The gun has a dual-axis
gun stabilizer which enables the tank to fire at a target while the tank is moving. This gun is capable of firing
APFSDS ,
HEAT and
HE rounds as well as
anti-tank guided missiles. The
APFSDS used by Durjoy tank can penetrate 500mm
RHA armor as far as 2 km away.
As a secondary armament, it has a 12.7 mm
W85 heavy machine gun with 3000 rounds and a 7.62 mm
Type 86 coaxial machine gun with 550-600 rounds. The 12.7 mm machine gun can be used in an anti-aircraft role too. It also has 81mm
smoke grenades.
Electronics
The Durjoy uses a modern
fire-control system comparable to the fourth generation Chinese tanks. Its ballistic computer has an integrated
thermal imaging system and
laser designator. It also has an independent commander's sight.
The Durjoy has a
night vision system and
Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation. Unlike a basic Type 59 tank, these tanks have a
combat data link which gives them better
situational awareness. This tank uses
XDZ-1 SATCOM and
VRC-2000L radio contact systems for communication.