First, according to the test conducted by Saudi Arabia with live ammunition and real vehicles, the equivalent thickness of the frontal protection of the turret of the "Khalid 2" is only 600 mm.

In addition, it was also proved that the "Khalid 2" used ordinary composite armor.

In fact, this question is not big or small.

600 mm equivalent protection thickness is not enough?

If it is only used to deal with peripheral threats, it is actually sufficient, but if it is not possible, additional armor can be installed, and the equivalent thickness of protection will be increased to 750 mm.

This thickness is enough to block all armor-piercing bullets except for the latest generation of armor-piercing bullets.

What's more, Saudi Arabia's main imaginary enemy is Iran, and Iran simply does not have armor-piercing shells with excellent performance, even if additional armor is not installed, "Khalid 2" can cope with the threat of Iran's main battle tanks, and with strong firepower, it has an overwhelming advantage on the battlefield.

In addition, in urban warfare, the main threat to tanks does not come from the front.

It can be seen that by the standard of practical use, "Khalid 2" is sufficient.

The problem is that when Saudi Arabia acquires Khalid 2, it is not only the Iranian threat that needs to be considered, but also the disobedient Arab country in the immediate vicinity.

Who?

Qatar.

When Saudi Arabia purchased the second batch of 60 "Salman" from China, Germany once sold tanks to Saudi Arabia, that is, the powerful "Leopard 2" A8SA.

Although the protection of this tank is not very good, not much better than that of "Khalid 2", but the firepower, that is, the power of the tank gun, far exceeds that of "Khalid 2".

Why?

Because Germany can provide 140 mm tank guns according to the customer's requirements!

At that time, the Saudis did not buy German tanks.

One is because it is expensive, and the other is that it is inconsistent with Saudi Arabia's overall strategy.

Moreover, is the 140-mm tank gun really useful?

You know, after the caliber increases, the number of shells carried will inevitably decrease, and it is necessary to use an automatic loader, because the weight of the shells exceeds the maximum physical strength of the loader.

In fact, this is also the key to the fact that Western countries have always used 120mm tank guns.

The weight of a 120-mm shell is too much for the loader to bear, and even more so for a 140-mm shell.

The result?

Qatar took over the tanks and purchased 120 tanks at a unit price of $35 million, all of which were deployed in the southern border area towards Saudi Arabia.

These 120 "Leopard 2" A8CA equipped with 140 mm tank guns have become a big problem for Saudi Arabia.

You know, at that time, Saudi Arabia had only 120 "Salman" in its hands that could barely compete with it.

In this way, the Saudis attach great importance to the performance of the tank, especially the protective performance.

Although theoretically, no existing tank can resist the armor-piercing shells of 140 mm tank guns, because according to the most conservative estimates, the armor-piercing thickness of the long-rod tungsten core armor-piercing shells of 140 mm tank guns is more than 1000 mm, and now no tank has an equivalent protective thickness of this level, but at that time, Germany did not develop advanced armor-piercing shells that could be used.

What was sold to Qatar was actually an armored piercing projectile enlarged on the basis of DM63.

To be more precise, the core of the DM63 was put on a larger butt, and then loaded into the shell of a 140mm armor-piercing bullet.

Thanks to a higher muzzle velocity, the theoretical penetration thickness of this armor-piercing projectile reached 900 mm.

Obviously, "Khalid 2", after installing additional armor, could not stop such armor-piercing shells.

At that time, only the 60 "Salman" of Huaxia origin, that is, the second batch of 60 "Salman", barely reached 900 mm after the installation of A-class additional armor.

Why?

The original "Salman" is equipped with the first generation of cermet armor.

It can be seen that Saudi Arabia is very dissatisfied with the protection of "Khalid 2".

What to do?

Of course, you can only find Huaxia.

After this test, Saudi Arabia approached the Chinese enterprise that produced the VT-4 and proposed that the Chinese enterprise upgrade the "Khalid 2".

There was only one project, to replace the original armor with metal-ceramic composite armor, at least the turret and hull frontal armor.

Unfortunately, the negotiations did not go well.

Why?

The price is too expensive.

The replacement armor can only be returned to Pakistan as a second-hand item, and it is a hassle to reinstall the armor.

In the end, Saudi Arabia only upgraded 120 "Khalid 2".

It was not until a few years later, that is, after the advent of the third generation of cermet composite armor, that Huaxia began to provide Pakistan with the production technology of the first generation of cermet composite armor, and this problem was solved, but by that time, Saudi Arabia already had its own production line.

In addition, Huaxia also began to export main battle tanks equipped with second-generation metal-ceramic composite armor.

Actually, "Khalid 2" is not bad.

Although the protection is not enough, the firepower is fierce enough.

To put it simply, against the "Leopard 2" A8CA, the "Khalid 2" cannot withstand the opponent's armor-piercing shells, but it can also destroy the opponent with armor-piercing shells.

Let's not forget that the protection of the Leopard 2 A8AC is not much better than that of the Khalid 2.

Of course, in the Saudi army, the official name of "Khalid 2" is "Salman" LE, the armored one is called "Salman" XE, and the original one is "Salman" MX, and these suffixes represent the performance of these three tanks.

Interestingly, with the arrival of "Khalid 2", the most irritating thing was not Iran, but India.

Why?

India does not have a tank that can compete with Khalid 2.

It can even be said that India does not have a tank capable of destroying "Khalid 2" on the battlefield.

You must know that the frontal protection of the fully draped "Khalid 2" reached 750 mm, while the armor-piercing shells used by the Indian T-90S could only penetrate a maximum of 650 mm of armor.

As a result, India once again jumped into the pit of Russia, funding and participating in the development of the T-14.

In fact, Pakistan did not purchase much "Khalid 2", but used the technology originally developed for "Khalid 2" to improve "Khalid".

Why?

Expensive.

Pakistan did not give it in the first place, and the country is engaged in infrastructure construction on a large scale, and the military funds received by the army can only barely maintain the status quo.

Of course, the improved "Khalid" is enough to suppress Indian tanks in terms of firepower, so there is no need to purchase more expensive tanks.

In this way, while Pakistan is making money on "Khalid 2", India is burning money.

In the end, India spent billions of dollars on the T-14 project, and by the time the project matured, the tank, which was called you before the "Khalid 2", had already appeared.

In other words, India spent billions of dollars, but what it got was a tank that was already behind when it was put into production.

Obviously, billions of dollars were spent and did not give India an advantage in armored forces.