Indian Army Looks For 300 Advanced Light Tanks

The Indian Army has put out a request for information (RFI) for 200 wheeled and 100 tracked advanced light armoured vehicles for use in semi-mountainous and mountainous regions in the North and North East, developed and semi-developed terrain in the Western borders and in the island territories.

The Army has stipulated that it wants the wheeled light tanks configured 8×8 with a maximum weight not exceeding 22-tons (for the tracked version as well).

25 thoughts on “Indian Army Looks For 300 Advanced Light Tanks”

  1. IA loves foreign products but what happened to ICV Abhay? Is it just a tech demo?

    IA desperately need light tanks against China along LAC. But not 300 at least 1000. They should concentrate on long range wheeled artillery as well. Good move though.

  2. i dont like to show interest on such INDIAN-ARMY news , bcoz after all they would buy a foreign equipments ,

    C'MON !!!!!!!!!!!!!! where our money going for RESEARCH & DEVE. we don't have our own indian made FIGHTER-PLANE, HELICOPTER, AND MANY………..

    WHAT DRDO , HAL IS DOING ????

    JUST WASTING OUR MONEY IN REASEARCH AND DEVE

  3. Shiv,
    I just can't understand the logic of having 'Light armoured tanks' but I am sure there are professionals who understand the need and desired role these tanks are going to play.
    However one thing I want to add is acquisition of Ultra light Howitzers ( like yesterday) for deployment in North east and laddakh. we must acquire/borrow newer artillery pieces urgently. Even the urgency has lost it's meaning since we have bought nothing since Bofors calamity and every test has returned Bofors on top of charts. UPA will not touch it with a barge pole also.

    I amsure the armour of this light tank is good enough to withstand certain calibre. Army knows best.

    No stryker does not fall in this category at all.

  4. Govt need to involve private firms in defense manufacture / research.
    Govt sources are dead end slow in research and wasting money like anything, we are not satisfied their way of research . India is manufacturing with tot T-90 & already have tech of t-72 , but up to now they can't develop a better Advanced light tank, even they allowed to import tank electronics but no use , no result – only time and money wasted.

  5. Put a gun turret on armoured Mahindra Marksman for the hilly terrain. Put some electric batteries(for running heaters in himalayan cold) underneath to compensate for the CG shift due to heavy turret. Even Stryker may be too wide for hilly terrain.

  6. tanks are a no no in mountanious regions. what one needs in mountaineous regions is long-range MBRLs with ranges of over 130-140km. mountains are graveyards for tanks.i guess what india needs is an excuse to buy american strykers, which are worthless junks.

    sad too see that the indian army can stoop so low

  7. @Rohit Kumar
    Get yer facts right or dont speak wen u know nothing.
    LCA Tejas is Indian made fighter plane.
    ALH Dhruv is Indian made helicopter (which is exported even to countries like Israel).
    I can give u a long list but its of no use coz we Indians only know to crib & curse.
    We all expect DRDO to aquire every damn technology overnight & start producing the next day.
    Where on earth has products never failed (except for pak – who never developed nething just changed the name), even the Americans have a very long history of failures & their products routinely fail even today.

  8. To anon @ 1.54 a.m: Wa-le-kum-ASS-SALAAMI! India did consider importing foreign soldier at one time. But after our soldiers took 90000 of your porki brothers (or fathers as the case may be!) as POWs in 1971, it was decided the our soldiers are good enough to kick porki ass!

    By the way, I feel that the Porkistan should seriously consider recruiting Taliban members into it's army since they seem to fight well (in part because most of them are paid & trained by us!).

  9. Anon 1:54. That was a gem. The IA and the IAF to a certain extent love the foreign moola and other perks that come with foreign products.
    As you say, they should import foreigners to fight so that they can enjoy the funds and perks they receive from the foreign companies.
    Is the IA learning from their Pakistani counterparts? The Pakistanis get foreigners to do the dirty work while they enjoy the American dollars.

  10. to chandrabhan

    What the IA seems to want is a 8×8, or tracked tank destroyer and the Stryker has a version with a 105mm gun, so it is an option.

    http://www.military-today.com/artillery/stryker_mgs.htm

    Also most(tracked)light tanks don't fit in the weight class of 22t, because today most countries have wheeled light apc/ifv and heavier tracked version.
    The tank in the picture is the US Stingray tank, which weighs only 20t, but it was developed in the 80s and the only army that uses it is the Thai army.

    http://www.military-today.com/tanks/stingray_light_tank.htm

  11. Its high time that the IA got some more firepower to be used at high altitudes and moutainous terrain. They seriously need to beef up their firepower..this is just the beginning- they still haven't gotten their artillery tender sorted out and its seriously going to hurt us if a war or a battle in the mountains breaks out anytime soon.

  12. Small size does not mean low weight. Smaller sized tank for hilly areas equipped with sufficient protective armour can be slightly heavier too. The only weight constraint should be from Transport aircraft. Specifications should be about the smaller dimensions and weight < max transportable by plane

  13. @Sancho,
    In that case, can a stryker be converted to tracks in the battle field or we need to buy them in the configuration?
    If we re looking for 105MM gun then Indian field artillery can be mass produced. However, I am more for the induction of 'Abhay' ASAP to serve in north east and loads of ultra light howitzers – Wheeled.

  14. to chandrabhan

    No, the Stryker is a 8×8 vehicle, but the article says 200 8×8 and 100 tracked. That means the army wants two different vehicles with guns.
    There was a light tank prototype of Abhay as well with a 105mm gun:

    http://www.drdo.com/pub/techfocus/2009/aug09.pdf

    And I would prefer Abhay as IFV and light tank too, but as far as I know it was only a tech demonstrator.
    Anyway if IA wants foreign arms I would prefer the Patria AMV over Striker, because of more space and range and can also be fitted with a gun:

    http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/3518/img8130980ut0.jpg

    Combine the deal with the CV90 light tank + some double barrel Mortar versions of CV90 and Patria (same Morta gun available for both) + some CV90 APC with the same 40mm cannon that Abhay had and the Archer self-propelled artillery (which already is in an IA competition) and the Army would have a light and fast moving armored vehicle brigade, with great fire power, perfectly suited for the mountain region.

    http://www.military-today.com/apc/patria_amv.htm

    http://www.military-today.com/artillery/amos.htm

    http://www.military-today.com/tanks/cv90120t.htm

    http://www.military-today.com/apc/cv_90.htm

    http://www.military-today.com/artillery/archer.htm

  15. Hi Shiv,

    I religiously follow your blog everyday for defence updates!

    I am still waiting for your update on the contenders for Indian Army's Light Tanks. Hope to see your article soon!

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