T-90 tanks in Indian Army

First T-90 tank to roll out of Indian factory Aug 24

11.08.09 13:11 Asia rising
New Delhi (IANS): After a delay of one year, the first T-90 tank manufactured in India under licence will roll out August 24, 2009.

"The first T-90 tank will roll out Aug 24," said a defence ministry official, requesting anonymity.

The licensed production of the tanks have been kicked off only after the stalemate with Russia over transfer of technology was resolved.

After the concern expressed by the Indian establishment over the delay in the execution of various defence deals, including the T-90 tanks, Russia has reassured India that the delivery will now be on schedule.

"We have repeatedly emphasised the timely delivery of the procured items. They (Russian officials) have reassured that supply of T-90s will remain on schedule. First 50 T-90s will roll out soon," the official said.

Delays in the manufacturing of the indigenous Arjun main battle tank and Pakistan{gt}s decision to purchase the T-80 from Ukraine prompted India to order 310 T-90s in 2001. Of these, 186 were assembled from kits at the Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi, near Chennai.

An agreement was also signed for the licensed production of another 1,000 T-90s. This, however, was delayed due to Russia′s reluctance to transfer technology, prompting India to purchase another 300 tanks from Russia last year.

However, the localised production of the tanks had not begun till 2008.

"Last year, we did not make a single tank. At least, a beginning has been made," the official said.

http://www.warandpeace.ru/en/news/view/38152/

Here's the photos of the release.

Beautiful line of MBTs... they can roll over Pak Army without a forethought.

Just confirms the fact that Indian T-90 is doing great and is loved by Indian Army , Check this video report

http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/news/indian-army-s-most-lethal-arm-the-t90-tank/187856

Can any one upload this on youtube , Vlad ?

uploaded it

Nice Pictures of Indian T-90 from Jan 2010 Republic Day Parade ( via Kunal/mp.net)

It just seems to me the upgraded Bhishma is some what a intermediate tank between Indian T-90 Bhishma and Russian T-90AM.

http://trishulgroup.blogspot.com/2009/01/indias-born-again-t-90m-mbt.html

It just seems to me the upgraded Bhishma is some what a intermediate tank between Indian T-90 Bhishma and Russian T-90AM.

T-90M v T-90AM

2A46M-5 Rapira smoothbore main gun v 2A82 smoothbore main gun
Israeli aircon system v new Russian aircon system
Indian composite armour v Russian composite armour
Underfloor autoloader only v underfloor autoloader and rear turret bustle autoloader
V-92S2 1,000hp engine vs "new engine with 130hp more"
APU v APU
Kaktus v Kaktus

In many areas they are the same (thermals and comms and ERA) and in other areas they are different but it is unknown which is better ( aircon) and in other areas the T-90AM is better (turret bustle autoloader allows longer rounds, should operate faster, means all rounds are ready to fire, frees crew compartment of live ammo, plus the newer more powerful and accurate main gun in the 2A82).

Overall I would say both are significant improvements that are worth the effort and money, though they will both likely cost rather more than the vehicles they are replacing.

Nice comparision Garry , I would say a lot of thing about T-90AM is still unknown so we will have to wait and see how it shapes up.

I asked the blog owner on the T-90M , he mentioned that at the time T-90M was being formulated the AM was still underdevelopment and due to operation reason they wanted to get T-90M up and going hence some components are updates and imported , in the future the IA will definately look at AM upgrade since it has many major improvement and ability to fire long rod is a big plus

You can check the blog owner new site here and my correspondence on this issue in the comment section. It would be nice if you could add your comparison between the two out there.

http://trishul-trident.blogspot.com/2011/04/arjun-mk2-mbt-emerges.html

It seems Indian Army is using Iron Fist APS on T-90

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-plrArQJf-P8/TmCrWJ0Og2I/AAAAAAAAAS0/puxT_tYyRXI/s1600/IMI.JPG

I thought you decided on a Swedish system (I forget the name)?

Austin wrote:It seems Indian Army is using Iron Fist APS on T-90

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-plrArQJf-P8/TmCrWJ0Og2I/AAAAAAAAAS0/puxT_tYyRXI/s1600/IMI.JPG

Yes it was a Swedish system that was elected for T-90 not Israel one. Perhaps this is a just poster.

Besides I read that K2 Black Panther uses Russian Arena-2 APS so I wonder will we see it on T-90AM?

Frankly speaking it could be Swedish system as well , I picked this up from the blog and most certainly it may not be accurate.

T-90AM: The Latest Avatar Of The T-90 MBT

A delegation of India's Ministry of Defence will be departing later today to take part in the Ural Arms Expo in Nizhny Tagil later this week, and while there it will officially hand over to Rosoboronexport State Corp a restricted RFI which calls for the first 310 imported T-90S MBTs to be subjected to a 'deep upgrade', which will be designed and implemented by Uralvagonzavod JSC. These MBTs will be almost 10 years old by the time their mid-life upgrades are due to carried out from early 2013 onwards.

This is a close up image of the turret of Indian T-90S

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_44d3OT-xI3U/SnqWRCXWu3I/AAAAAAAAA9Y/K2ebaLpsc4A/s1600-h/T-90S.JPG

Can some one tell me why does the Commander TI sight which is French Catherine shows just normal optics and the gunner sight shows a blue colour optics.

Is it true the the Commander TI sight in Tp-90A/S cannot move 360 * ? Is that a big disadvantage ?

Austin wrote:This is a close up image of the turret of Indian T-90S

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_44d3OT-xI3U/SnqWRCXWu3I/AAAAAAAAA9Y/K2ebaLpsc4A/s1600-h/T-90S.JPG

Can some one tell me why does the Commander TI sight which is French Catherine shows just normal optics and the gunner sight shows a blue colour optics.

Is it true the the Commander TI sight in Tp-90A/S cannot move 360 * ? Is that a big disadvantage ?

In T-90S TI sight have only gunner and is in the picture closed with metal plate. You only see gunners day sigh with LRF and missile guiding channel 1G46 and commanders day/night sight TKN-4, which have II night channel, not TI.

Mindstorm , Can you please tell what is the approximate penetration figures for KE and CE rounds for Indian T-90S Bhishma using K-5 ERA a composite armour ?

I would like to know some figures the frontal protection and rear and side ones ? Thanks

Austin wrote:Mindstorm , Can you please tell what is the approximate penetration figures for KE and CE rounds for Indian T-90S Bhishma using K-5 ERA a composite armour ?

I would like to know some figures the frontal protection and rear and side ones ? Thanks

Finally i get a bit of free-time for write.

1) Level of protection of frontal turret of T-90S against KE penetrators (in a 30 degree inception angle, except gun mantle area) taking into account K-5 -export variant- ,vary from 770 mm to 860 mm RHA (800 mm average measure),in this area differences in basis passive protection level in respect to the internal T-90A are truly marginal (in the 20-30 mm RHA range) ,in the rear side of turret ,for inception angles over 43 degrees (the worse enemy fire radial arc segment for T-90S's turret design geometrically-wise) we have about 280-310 mm RHA ; in this area for this "overstretched" angles of fire, the effect of ERA become the dominating factor bith against KE and CE ammunitions.
With the improved T-90MS for export, the level of passive armour protection ,thanks to about 10 years of R&D achievements (mostly aimed at the armour layout of the new generation MBT to be accepted in russian ground forces) ,lightening of almsot all internal systems and a contestual increase of the weigth of about 2 tons and half, has reached in the turrett front about 850 mm RHA against KE ; effect of Relikt even in its export version ,of course, bring that figure at levels totally outside the reach of any classical APFSDS now operative or in R&D phase worldwide and would require attack means employing completly new pronciples in order to get a chance to penetrate a similar protected MBT in that area .


Naturally the up-mentioned figures have nothing to do with the comical metropolitan legends (on tanks moreover with horrible armoured mass/volume index ) about MBT's passive protections level of 950 mm RHA against KE

But, you know, when ,on the basis of -at best- staged pics (the only good quality of which is only that naturally haven't put anybody in a very ,very very bad situation for a very dangerous security's break..) someone construct odd theories only to mantain in some way alive its "beloved" low level metropolitan legends showing a total blindness for any factual element in direct conflict with it, you can obtain results like this (selled even as the definitive correct draw of Leopard-2A4 armour LOS !!!!!! )





Do you remember,Austin, what said the other time ? When someone manipulate parameters, it fatally fall in an unescapable vortex of incompatible models .
In this istance in order to attempt to sustain that A2 is.... 84 cm ,our wizard transform Leopard A4 in a MBT with ....an hull of about 9 meters in length !! (and more than 11 meters with the main gun ) .

The claimed length of A2 and A1 (84 cm and 65 cm) become of course comically incompatible (you can measure them and see as the difference is marginal) ....an "unlucky" collateral effect of one of the images (the third...that with the comical attempt to increase the wideness measuring from centre of the periscope area in oblique ) showing an indentifiable structural element of Leopard 2 A4 .
Now ,Austin, attempt to measure, above the segment A1, the wideness of side turrett armor ,claimed by militarysta to be 33 cm , it should therefore measure about the half of A1
I could continue with dozen of other obvious titanic inconsistencies ,as with gun mask size or the same size of the turett, but i think that a pair of integral photos of real Leopard 2A4 will be much more eloquent for clear the field than any other word





Good luck at mantain together a claimed measure of 84 cm for that armour section and a Leopard-2-A4 turrett 2,5 m wide





Naturally if the 84 cm return within the boundaries of much more reasonable figures ,all those parametrical incongruencies magically.....vanish

Thanks Mindstorm , This might be of interest to you

http://andrei-bt.livejournal.com/97752.html

T-90MS Firepower
http://gurkhan.blogspot.com/2011/10/90.html

Revised Estimate of T-90A turret without the ERA

http://dejawolf.com/steelbeasts/T-90armourestimates.jpg

Where is Mindstorm these days ? FSB abducted him

Nice to see Indian president ride on the T-90A, though I imagine Arjun fans are not too amused :p.

Surprising since Arjun is also taking part in the same exercise but its more of symbolic value and T-90 forms the core strength of strike corp of India , Arjun is just few at the moment.

Rian reports that Indonesia will be signing a deal to buy T-90 and Tornado , so if it indeed signs it then Indonesia will be one more country to buy it.

Well hope some General Staff does not rise from his comfort and starts bad mouthing T-90

It will be a generation before Russian generals wisen up, or at least learn to make criticism that's not so blatantly inaccurate.


Anyways it is good to see Arjun employed, even if on symbolic excersises. Deployment is exactly what it needs, on a sizable scale, so that issues (and there will be issues, as in any new design) can be encountered and rectified. Plus, its a handsome vehicle in the sand. Interesting that India decided to eventually put ERA on the vehicle...

This is what the current Army Chief said about T-90 in a latest interview to FORCE Magazine , I dont know if i can get any one better speak on the subject

From Army Chief interview to FORCE source

What is the status on armour? Is T-90s the MBT now? What is being done about the large numbers of T-72 tanks which lack a night fighting capability? How many Arjun regiment will the army have, and are there plans to upgrade Arjun tanks?

By terming the T-90 tank as the main battle tank (MBT), the Indian Army implies that this tank is the future mainstay of the Indian Army, and is indicative of the volumes of this tank comprising the backbone of the mechanised forces. T-90 is a state of the art and highly capable weapon system, capable of survival in the most challenging environments.

The Indian Army has already addressed the issue of night blindness of T-72 tanks. A large number of tanks are now night-enabled. Measures are already in place to ensure speedy night enablement of the balance numbers. With this, we have ensured that the erstwhile issue of night blindness is addressed holistically, with our entire tank fleet capable of operations at night.

As far as Arjun tank is concerned, the Indian Army is looking at inducting a few additional numbers of MBT Arjun regiments in the future. The tank finally produced by DRDO is quite competitive and has come a long way. Upgradations and improvements to the MBT Arjun as a Mark- II version are underway. On successful completion of these improvements, the tank will meet the requirements of the Indian Army.

Some T-90 related news for India link

As I'd indicated earlier, I can now confirm that a Russian delegation, which included officials from Uralvagonzavod and Rosoboronexport met with the a team from the Army's Mechanised Forces at Sena Bhawan in the second week of March this year. The scheduled meeting was to present information about the T-90MS that was to be unveiled at the Defexpo show a fortnight later. The meeting was a casual one -- the inviduals involved have met many times before on the expansive T-90 transactions. My sources tell me that it was conveyed at the meeting that if India chose to license-build more T-90s, the cost of transferring any additional technology would be waivered. The offer is a direct hit at the Arjun Mk.2. The upcoming trials also came up at the meeting. The Russians are understood to have offered to assist in the Indian FMBT project (and is in talks separately with DRDO about this) and that it was time to let the Arjun go.