Iran has announced a new indigenous main battle tank for its ground forces. The new Karrar tank is descended from an older Russian design and incorporates design elements from even older Western, including American, tanks. Despite the hype, Karrar is decades behind modern tanks and may not even enter production. In fact, it may not even exist as more than a hoax designed to get Iran a cheaper price for Russian armor.

The Karrar ("Striker" in Farsi) tank was unveiled in the Iranian capital of Tehran and, according to Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan , is "one hundred percent Iranian made." The T-90MS is the latest version of Russia's current main battle tank and Iran had planned to buy several hundred T-90MS tanks but negotiations failed and Iran promised it would build its own tanks. Production of the tank is set to begin at the Bani-Hashem Armor Industrial Complex in Lorestan.

Does this look like part of a brand-new tank?

According to Dehghan, the tank is "equipped with electro-optical fire control system, laser rangefinder, ballistic computer, and ability to fire at fixed and mobile targets during daytime and at night." It can fire laser guided missiles, likely from the main gun barrel, and has a remotely operated 12.7-millimeter machine gun. The tank also appears to have reactive armor tiles to protect against anti-tank shells, rockets, and missiles. The Defense Minister even claims the Karrar is "superior to the Russian-made T-90MS in certain aspects."

But the Karrar is almost certainly nowhere near as sophisticated as the T-90MS. An international pariah for its support of terrorism and its recently suspended nuclear program, Iran has been under various sanctions for decades and has taken to making low-quality knockoff tanks . Furthermore, negotiations with Russia were only recently terminated, and it is functionally impossible to design and prototype a tank in a year or less. The tank so precisely mirrors the T-90MS it's possible that, other than a single prop, it doesn't exist and is a bargaining chip to get Russia to lower its prices.

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A promotional video released by Iran and aired by RT shows the Karrar going through its paces. The tank fires its main gun twice, but at least one shot is clear miss. Both times the camera cuts away from the target, which is helpfully circled, before the round actually missses. The inside of the tank appears antiquated and used, nothing like what one would expect from a brand-new vehicle. A quick shot of the main gun autoloader in action was not actually filmed inside a tank as a person appears in the background. It's possible that the scene was filmed inside an older T-72S tank, one of 480 Iran received from Russia between 1993 and 1999.

The Karrar's features, including a laser rangefinder, remote controlled machine gun, and reactive armor have been standard issue in world armies since the 1980s. The gun-launched missile—if it exists—is likely a copy of the Russian 9M119M "Refleks" anti-tank missile. Even with a working understanding of how gun-launched missiles work, it would take more than a year to design, develop and test one. Large pieces of sheet metal appear bolted to the tank on the front of the turret and the base of the main gun, pieces that probably have no actual use other than to disguise the lack of anything behind them.

Russian T-90A tank, Red Square, 2015. Vasily Maximov Getty Images

The Karrar's only clear improvement over existing tanks is a large bustle in the rear of the turret, essentially a basket for storing crew stuff. U.S. Abrams tank crews would clamor for the larger bustle of the Karrar to store extra ammunition, laptops, and clothing.

This isn't the first time Iran fibbed about building superweapons. The Qaher "stealth fighter" is almost certainly a hoax , Iran has painted oil drums to make them look like surface to air missiles , and has even announced grand plans to build nuclear-powered warships .

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