Hello defence lovers! In the previous part of this article, we talked about the British and French tanks that gave their service in the Indian army after the post-independence era. In this article, we will discuss the Soviet tanks that served the Indian army and how they are still the backbone of the Indian army’s armoured corps.
PT-76 (1962-2009)
Pt-76 was a soviet ambitious light tank. It is the ancestor of many successful light tanks and armoured personnel carriers of the Soviet Union. India acquired these light tanks from the soviet union in 1962. Initially, 178 tanks were ordered. Later on, follow-on orders were also placed. Indian army used them in the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war against the Pakistani M24 Chaffee light tanks.
The PT-76 saw action with Indian forces in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 and 1971. The superior tactics of the Indian Army enabled the PT-76 to play a vital role in the Eastern theatre of the 1971 war where the PT-76s proved superior to the obsolete Pakistani M24 Chaffee light tanks despite being outnumbered. A good example of such an engagement was the Battle of Garibpur, where an Indian Army Infantry Battalion with only 14 PT-76s was able to maul a much larger brigade-strength unit of Pakistani armour and inflict heavy casualties. During the battle, 8 Pakistani M24 Chaffee tanks were destroyed, and 3 were captured at the cost of 2 PT-76. Even Pakistan acquired some second-hand Pt-76s from Indonesia in 1968 which were used in the 1971 war.
Pt-76 weighed only 14 tons. It was armed with a 76 mm D-56T rifled gun along with a 7.62 mm co-axial machine gun. It was powered by a V-6 type diesel engine which produced 240 horsepower and could propel the tank at speed of 44 km/hr on road and 10 km/hr when swimming.
Pt-76 saw combat all across the globe from the invasion of Hungry, the Vietnam war, Arab Israel wars to even the Gulf wars. Over 12000 tanks were built in total.
T-54/T-55 (1964-2011)
The T54/T55 were the first Soviet MBTs which served the Indian Army. India ordered 300 of these tanks in 1964. At that time the KGB’s influence was growing in the Indian government and hence Indian armed forces were shifting from Western to Soviet hardware.
Very soon the army got the opportunity to test these soviet machines. It used the T-54s and T-55s extensively in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation war. The first meeting of the T-55 with enemy tanks occurred in the area of Garibpur on November 22, 1971. Indian T-55s (63 Cavalry) destroyed 3 Pakistani M24 Chaffee (29 Cavalry) in the area. On December 10–11, during the Battle of Nainakot, Indian T-55s (14 Cavalry Scinde Horse) in two battles destroyed 9 Pakistani M47/48 (33 Cavalry), without any loss. Battle of Basantar was one of the decisive battles fought in the 1971 war in the western sector of India. T-55s of the Indian army destroyed close to 46 M48 and lost only 10 MBTs in the process.
These tanks were armed with a 100mm rifled gun along with an autoloader. It weighed 36 tons. It saw action worldwide. perhaps T-55 has seen action in every significant conflict fought after the second world war. According to some reports Russia has pulled out old T-55s from storage to use in the Ukraine war.
Indian army in total ordered 1700+ tanks from the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and from Poland. Later on, these tanks were modernised in the 1990s. The last T-55 tank was phased out of active service in 2011. However, a huge number of these tanks are still kept in storage as reserves. Some t-55 turrets are used as static defence along the LOC.
Vijayant/Vickers Main Battle Tank (1963-2008)
The Vickers MBT was developed initially in the United Kingdom by Vickers Amstrong. It was primarily developed for export purposes and it was never used by the Royal Army. Initially, 80 tanks were imported directly from the UK in 1963. Later on, in 1965, India started licence production of these tanks domestically. These were the first indigenous tanks of the Indian army. Thus these tanks were renamed “Vijayant”.
During the 1965 India-Pakistan war, the Vijayanta was just not ready for combat action and hence saw only limited action. Indian army took little time to get used to this tank. Vijayant got the opportunity to prove its worth in the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war. It was used up to its fullest potential on the eastern front of the war. Under the command of Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora, the 8th, 28th, and 57th divisions armed with the Vijayants, led the Indian thrust into East Pakistan, using “blitzkrieg” tactics.
The Vijayant Mark 1 was armed with an L7A2 105 mm main gun along with 44 rounds. A very popular choice considering the western tanks. It 12.7 mm co-axial machine gun with 1000 rounds and an AA gun with 500 rounds. It was powered by a Leyland l 60 diesel engine producing 535 break horse power. It had a crew of four, the commander, the driver, the gunner and the loader.
By 1986, around 2200 Vijants had already been produced domestically. However, only a small number were subsequently modified into mark 1A standards against the planned number of 1100. Later the operational fleet was further modified into Mark 2 standards in which it received a modern fire control system along with many enhancements.
Some special variants were made from the Vijayant Chasis. The most significant variant is the Catapult SPA. In this, a soviet M-46 field gun was mounted on the lengthened Vijayant hull. The lengthened chassis was also used for the Bridge Layer Tank application.
By 2008 all the Vijayants were replaced by T-72 M tanks. Some of these tanks are used as static defence mechanisms just like the t-55s along the LOC. These are also stored as reserve tanks.
Modern Tanks
Now let us discuss the modern MBTs in the Indian army’s Inventory. We will discuss these MBTs very briefly since there is lots of information available on our website about them.
T-72 is the oldest tank active in the Indian army. Negotiations with the Soviets started in 1980 for their latest T-72 tank. In 1981 T-72M was chosen and inducted into the service in 1982. The Indian army currently operates 2410 T-72 tanks.
T-90 Bhisma is the backbone of the Indian armoured corps today. These were first directly imported from Russia during the end of the 1990s. By 2001 licensed production began in India. These are perhaps the most powerful tanks in the Indian army’s arsenal. It can fire a variety of rounds including Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs). A total of 2078 T-90s are in active service.
Arjun is our Indigenous tank developed by DRDO. As of now, the Indian army operates 124 Arjun MK1 and an order for 118 Arjun MK1A has been placed. The DRDO also developed an experimental tank by fitting Arjun’s turret on the T-72 hull. The army liked the concept very much however the Russians imposed an embargo since the design of the T-72 hull was their intellectual property.
The Indian Army is modernizing itself into a future-ready fighting force. For that, it is also modernizing its tank fleet under the FRCV programme. Keeping the eastern front with China in mind, the Indian army is also planning to procure 350 light tanks for mountain warfare.
So this was the story of the Indian army’s Tanks. For more interesting articles follow defenceXP.com
