F.I. Sees $31.6B Market in Tanks From 2006-2016

Chinese Type 96(click to view full) In its annual analysis “The World Market for Tanks,” the Forecast International Weapons Group projects that the international market will produce nearly 7,800 main battle tanks, worth in excess of $31.6 billion, through 2015. The upper tier of tanks like the American M1 Abrams and derivatives, British Challenger 2, French AMX Leclerc, German Leopard 2, Indian Tank-EX aka. Karan, Italian Ariete 2, and Israeli Merkava Mark 4 continue to show production declines against the second tier, dropping to about 17% of the market during this period. Meanwhile, a lower tier that mostly consists of modified Soviet-era tanks continues to grow. Forecast international believes that China’s Type 96/98, Pakistan’s related Al-Khalid, and Russia’s T-90 will account for nearly 45% of all new tanks rolling out worldwide, worth about 40% of the market, through 2015. DID also received a full copy of the analysis, and was interested to note that Iran’s Dio sits in 4th place for projected tank production with its licensed T-72S variant and Zulfiquar tanks. M1A1 Abrams: Currum Ago(click to enjoy full view) Yet that growth in second-tier production percentages may be deceptive. F.I.’s analysis notes that the high cost of new top-line […]