2/27/2023 0 Comments Ispeak k9 forum![]() ![]() Consequently, the development of light tanks has not gained traction until the eruption of the present boundary stand-off with the PRC. Pakistan has tended to disproportionately preoccupy the mind space of the IA’s planners. Generally, the service has privileged medium to heavy weight armour over light armour. It is also the product of the IA’s constricted vision in meeting the capability and operational challenges facing India against its primary foe-the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). In India, a crisis invariably tends to tip the scales lending urgency to decisions on new developmental initiatives-the government’s decision on the indigenous development of light tanks is no exception. The public writ large should be aware that India’s pressing need and quest for light tanks only emerged in the wake of the current Sino-Indian boundary crisis. This development should be applauded, but without obscuring the problems plaguing force planning for India’s armoured corps. Notwithstanding Russia’s offer, India has now turned to native development of a light tank rather than import them. ![]() In April 2021, the Directorate General of Mechanised Forces issued a Request for Information (RFI) under the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for 350 light tanks in the weight class of 25 tonnes. How the IA got here and challenges aheadĪgainst this backdrop, India had considered acquiring the Russian light tank the Sprut SDM1 following the outbreak of the current Sino-Indian boundary in May 2020. The Chinese built the Type-15 light tanks, because they anticipated the need for low-weight armoured platforms for high altitude warfare and specifically for the kind of military contingency confronting the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) presently against the IA along the contested boundary between India and China. It is widely recognised to be a capable armoured platform, despite its smaller gun size compared to its Indian counterparts. It is one of the few light tanks built in the last three decades. The Type-15 weighs 35 tonnes with a 105 mm gun making it significantly lighter than the IA’s T-90, T-72, and K9-Vajras. Apart from that, the Chinese have designed and developed a dedicated light tank called the Type-15 and deploy them due to their suitability for high altitude warfare against India. The Directorate General of Mechanised Forces has been working intensively to reduce the weight of weapons systems and platforms. In any case, even if they were effective, their deployment imposes logistical burden on the IA, which the service for several years now has been trying to reduce. Notwithstanding their current deployment, the weight of the K9-Vajras, the T-90s, and T-72s make them much too heavy for effective combat at high altitudes along the Sino-Indian boundary. The decision to deploy the Vajra was largely to meet the immediate military contingency facing India on its border with China and service some part of the firepower requirements of the IA. Both Russian-built MBTs are equipped with 125mm guns. T-90s combat weight is 48 tonnes and the older T-72s weigh 46 tonnes. In terms of weight, the K9-Vajra is a 50-tonne tracked vehicle slightly exceeding the weight class of actual tanks such as the T-90 and T-72 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs), which are also deployed in Ladakh. The K9-Vajra, however, was never going to be sufficient or a credible substitute for a dedicated light tank, which the government has now given an in-principle approval. Further, deployments of the Vajra are likely in other parts of the Sino-Indian boundary. A regiment of the K9-Vajra, which is a tracked 155mm/2 self-propelled howitzer capable of striking targets 50 kilometres away is now deployed in Ladakh in the ongoing stand-off with the Chinese. This decision was taken under the Make-I category of the 2020 Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) and comes against the backdrop of India’s conversion of the K-9 Vajra mobile howitzer in to a light tank. The Modi government on 3 March 2022 announced the development of light tanks for the Indian Army (IA). Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology. ![]()
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