Does Ukraine war ring alarm bells for India’s tanks?

Does Ukraine war ring alarm bells for India’s tanks?

Dismissing reports about the tank’s death as greatly exaggerated, the 12-lakh strong Indian Army is going in for a major upgrade of its existing tanks and gearing up to induct new-generation ones.

Senior officers contend the wide-scale destruction of Russian tanks in the ongoing war with Ukraine, especially in the initial days, was more due to poor tactics rather than tanks becoming obsolete in modern warfare.

Eyes on future

The Army plans to issue the RFP (request for proposal) this year for the estimated Rs 57,000-crore mega project to produce 1,770 future-ready combat vehicles (FRCVs) in India to replace the old Russian-origin T-72 tanks from 2030 onwards.

Along with a fleet of 2,400 T-72 tanks, the Army has so far inducted 1,200 T-90S Bhishma tanks of the 1,657 being produced by the Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi on the outskirts of Chennai under licence from Russia.

The force will also this year induct the first five of the 118 indigenous Arjun Mark-1A tanks, with 14 major and 57 minor “upgrades”, ordered for Rs 7,523 crore in Sept 2021. These will add to the first 124 Arjun tanks inducted over a decade ago.

A shift

The Army will induct 354 indigenous light tanks for high-altitude warfare under Project Zorawar for around Rs 17,500 crore. The continuing standoff with China in eastern Ladakh has driven home the need for such tanks.

While 59 of these light tanks are reserved for DRDO, the rest 295 are to be manufactured under the government-funded design and development ‘Make-1’ category.

Several upgrade plans are also under way. The Army, for instance, has now got its pending proposal for inducting 1000-horsepower engines for its T-72 fleet approved. Under this Rs 2,300-crore plan, 200 engines will be directly imported, while 800 will be made in India.

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