Ramses II tank
type of main battle tank
The Ramses II tank is a heavily modernized T-55 main battle tank designed for and used by the Egyptian Armed Forces. A single T-54 was sent to the United States for upgrading. A primary prototype was sent to Egypt where extensive trials were completed in late 1987. Additional tests were conducted in 1990. Sources are often contradictory on the Ramses II tank service history and number of vehicles built, with some stating that it entered service in relatively small numbers, while according to another source the tank never got past the prototype stage.
Background
After the Soviet Union exported large numbers of T-54 and T-55 tanks for several Middle Eastern countries, other countries saw an opportunity to offer comprehensive upgrade packages. In the 1970s West Germany upgraded several hundred T-54/55 tanks for the Egyptian Army, fitting them with AEG-Telefunken white/infrared searchlights and some with Iskra laser rangerfinders. These tanks were designated as the T-55E (Egyptian) Mark 0. The Egyptians sought to further modernize them with American and West German assistance, but most of these projects were abandoned, leading to allegations that the T-54/55 modernization program was a corruption scheme led by senior officials and the funds needed to upgrade the tanks were never available in the first place.
Design
The Ramses II featured a modified rear hull to accommodate a new powerpack consisting of a TCM AVDS-1790-5A turbocharged diesel engine developing 908 brake horsepower (677 kW) (similar to the M60A3 tank engine) coupled to a Renk RK-304 transmission.
“Ramses II tank” enters the record as type of main battle tank. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Ramses, tank and type can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2007972. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1987, 1990 and 1790.
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