From the para you quoted from,
I'm right there with you ...
"This shows in tank manufacturing with limited resources just how far behind these countries (Iran/North Korea) (are) in tank development; I'd say at
least a generation in most areas of tank development certainly construction. "
It's
NOT even as good as the Israeli tank for one Israel (And some others.) are on par or near peer in tank development to include armor though DU certainly still has its advantages.
I'm not seeing any signs of
ceramic or applique armor on that Iranian tank I see armor steel riveted over an M-60 tank with some ERA. Not unlike the North Korean one or the
CHALLENGER 2 from Ukraine where at least they made an effort to make it look "presentable".
Iran had the
same issues somewhat recently with
F-16A modernization which was to simply just to keeping them flying and really nothing more. I wonder how many "
micro-cracks" some of those fuselages have as those jets date back to the late 70's with less than a handful received before we cancelled the order for 160 fighters with the fall of the Shah in 1979. It is thought of the rest came from Venezuela in the early 2000's but would've been just as old as what they got from us. They don't have very many of them.
My thinking is the Israeli
UNIT 035 Mag'ach 6R is closer with some minor adjustment for the side skirts but that's just me.
Regards,
Pat