PT-91EX - The reverse gear saga

THEPolishThunder · February 27, 2026, 8:15pm

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PT-91EX - The reverse gear saga

History

The PT-91EX was developed in the early 2000s as part of Poland’s effort to create a highly modernised export variant of the PT-91 Twardy main battle tank. Building upon the PT-91 platform, Polish industry — led by Bumar-Łabędy — sought to integrate Western subsystems, improved mobility, and upgraded fire-control technology to appeal to foreign customers and remain competitive on the international market.

Development of the PT-91EX was closely tied to Poland’s pursuit of a major export contract with Malaysia. Rather than offering a simple upgrade package, engineers produced a significantly enhanced demonstrator incorporating a new power-pack, modern thermal sights, a more powerful, and numerous ergonomic improvements such as an auxiliary power unit and air-conditioning — features rarely seen on earlier Warsaw Pact-based tanks. These upgrades were the result of cooperation between Polish companies and foreign partners, combining domestic armour and protection solutions with Western electronics and drivetrain components.

Two prototype export vehicles were created during this development phase, designated PT-91E and PT-91EX. These prototypes served as technology demonstrators and testbeds for systems that would later be standardised on the production PT-91M “Pendekar” built for Malaysia. The Malaysian contract, signed in 2003 and valued at roughly $370 million, ultimately resulted in the delivery of 48 production tanks between 2007 and 2009.

Characteristics

Armament

Primary: 125mm 2M46MS L/48 Smoothbore Gun (w/ 42rd, 22 in autoloader carousel)
- 3BM15 APFSDS-T (Primary)
- 125mm APFSDS-T “Ryś” (Higher rank)
- 3BK18M HEAT-FT
- 3OF26 HE-FRAG
Depression/Elevation: -6/+13 degrees
Coaxial machine gun: 7.62 mm UKM-2000C

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Anti-aircraft machine gun: 12.7mm M2HB-QCB

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New mechanisms for turret rotation and elevation.

Mobility

Engine: ~1,000hp PZA-Wola S1000R Diesel Engine
Transmission: Automatic Renk ESM 350M, 8-Forward, 3-Reverse
Chassis: Torsion Bar Suspension
Max Speed: 70Km/h
Max reverse speed: 23Km/h
Neutral steering

Armour

Since the vehicle is derived from the T-72M1 it features the same composite armour, but the vehicles armour is upgraded through the 3rd generation arrangement of ERAWA 1/2.

Third generation ERAWA armor on PT-91 tank consist 259 cassettes:

164 ERAWA-1
92 ERAWA-2

Weight 907kg. The main change is modular designed to achieve faster replace damage cassettes on battelfield. On hull are placed 79 segments, on turret 90 segments and on each hull side 45 segments.

Statistics for ERAWA 1/2

Statistics

Optics, electronics, other

LRF
SAGEM SAVAN 15 day/thermal sight

Two-plane stabilizer
- Generation: 2nd gen
- Wavelength: 8–12 µm or 3–5 µm
- Zoom: Electronic zoom, two magnifications
- Wide FOV: x2 magnification
- Narrow FOV: x10 magnification

Shame thermals can be found on Challenger 2E in-game

Laser warning system: OBRA-3
- Detection angular range in vertical plane: -6°/+30°
- Detection angular range in horizontal plane: 360°
- Dange of detected radiation: 0.6 μm – 11 μm.
24x 81mm 902A ZM Dezamet Smoke Grenade Launchers

Pictures/Videos