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Native name | ہیوی انڈسٹریز ٹیکسلا |
|---|---|
| Formerly | Heavy Rebuild Factory (HRF) |
| Company type | State owned enterprise |
| Industry | Defense industry |
| Founded | 1971; 54 years ago (1971) |
| Founder | Ministry of Defence |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Chairman:Lt-Gen. Shakir-ullah Khattak |
| Products | Armoured fighting vehicles,Civilian armored cars,Military armoured cars,Self-propelled artillery,Cannons |
Number of employees | ~5200 |
| Parent | Ministry of Defence Production |
| Subsidiaries | Margalla Heavy Industries Ltd. |
| Website | www |
Heavy Industries Taxila (Reporting name:HIT,Urdu:ہیوی انڈسٹریز ٹیکسلا) is a Pakistani state-owned enterprise and defense contractor working under theMinistry of Defence Production, located inTaxila,Punjab.[1][2] Inaugurated in 1979 by then PresidentZia ul Haq as "Heavy Rebuild Factory", the facility specializes in armored vehicle development.[3]
HIT has extensive experience in the overhaul and upgrade of tracked armored fighting vehicles for thePakistan Armed Forces.[1][4][5]
HIT's commercial wing specializes in irrigation equipment systems and lab services such as material testing and casting.[6]
Plans to establish a heavy vehicles facility were envisaged as early as July 1968 when PresidentAyub Khan negotiated a credit offered byCzechoslovakia for establishing a workshop atMultan for the overhaul ofT-59 MBTs which thePakistan Armoured Corps was acquiring in large numbers fromChina at the time, however the project was scuttled after theSoviet Union refused to grant clearance to the Czech side for the construction of the facility. Some years later, duringYahya Khan's regime, theDefense secretary, Syed Ghiasuddin Ahmed on instructions of the President channeled a formal request to theChinese government through the Chinese ambassador to establish a "tank manufacturing plant" for Pakistan to which the Chinese dispatched a team from the People's Liberation Army for discussions.[3]
As a first step, experts from China and Pakistan surveyed sites aroundMultan andRawalpindi in May 1971 with the later's Taxila area eventually being selected as the idyllic location for the facility. Resultantly, anMoU was signed in July 1971, between theGovernment of Pakistan and Government of China for a "tank re-build complex".[3]
In the aftermath of the1971 Indo-Pakistani war, theDefense ministry realized the importance and critical need of indigenization and a local defence industry. As a result, Project-711 was initiated which was overseen fromChaklala under the jurisdiction of the Defence Production Division of the Ministry of Defence (today'sMinistry of Defence Production). Under Project-711, construction of a Heavy Rebuild Factory for T-59s commenced at the previously selected site at Taxila with assistance fromNORINCO. It started with the construction of residential buildings for the factory's employees in early 1973 followed by the construction of the rebuild complex in 1975. Construction of the complex was completed by the late 1970s. Heavy Rebuild Factory (T-series) was formally inaugurated in 1979 by President Zia Ul Haq as the first locally overhauled T-59 rolled out of the factory's production line. A year later in 1980, the factory initiated serial production with a yearly capacity to rebuild 100 T-59s and 250 engines.[3]
By 1992, new factories had been constructed as HRF transformed into a large multi-factory military industrial complex spanning over 1400 acres, supplemented by 2 more R&D labs in 2007. Altogether, the complex had a combined workforce of 5200 engineers and technicians. Subsequently, the facility was renamed to "Heavy Industries Taxila".[7]
By the 2020s, HIT had manufactured 1800armored fighting vehicles and 400+internal security vehicles besides overhauling 5000 armored vehicles.[7]
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