New Delhi and Moscow are jointly planning to modernise 2,500 T-72 tanks in service with the Indian Army. The combat vehicles will then be sent to Africa and Middle East countries, Defence Blog reports.
A senior official said the tanks will undergo modernisation in India before being sent to international buyers. He also added:
“The tanks will be modernised before export, allowing countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia to benefit from these combat vehicles.”
The T-72s have been the backbone of the Indian Army’s armoured forces since the 1970s and many countries have expressed interest in acquiring these vehicles as India is set to scrap them.
India began production of the T-72 in the 1980s at the Heavy Vehicle Plant in Avadi, near Chennai, after an initial purchase of 500 units from the Soviet Union. The same plant also produces modernised T-90 tanks. It will now become a base for overhauling T-72s for export.
Technical co-operation between Indian and Russian experts is underway to ensure successful modernisation of these tanks. The move could open doors for export of other surplus military hardware such as Russian-made BMP-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs), which are also slated for modernisation.
While the T-72 is the most numerous tank in India’s arsenal, the Indian Army also has about 1,000 T-90 tanks and about 100 Arjun tanks in service.
