Indian Army T-72 tanks now have night vision

[Justin Joseph]

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The Indian Defence Minister yestrday stated in the parliament that the T-72 tank fleet is being optimally used and is the mainstay of the present tank fleet. The entire fleet of this tank is fully battle worthy with high mission and operational reliability. A part of the T-72 fleet is already equipped with high end technology night vision device which has been fully integrated and exploited.

[gowthamraj]

What version is that. That french one

[navtrek]

Ajeya MK2



The upgrade program provides for installation of

1. Polish SKO-1T DRAWA-T fire control systems/thermal imagers supplied by the Polish PCO/Cenzin (from PT-91 Twardy)

2. DRDO explosive reactive armour

3. A navigation system from Israel 's Tamam

4. German Litef or South African RDI

5. A locally developed laser illumination warning system

6. New radios manufactured by Tadiran or GES Marconi and an improved NBC protection system will be fitted.

7. The tank is planned to be powered by a 1,000 hp (750 kW) S-1000 engine made by the Polish firm PZL-Wola (also from PT-91 Twardy).

It is also upgraded with new fire detection and suppression systems and laser warning systems on either side of the turret. Also known as Combat Improved Ajeya.

Indian sources often say that 1800-2,000 T-72M1 tanks will be upgraded top to bottom while the rest will undergo only partial improvement.

T-72 operators and variants - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[navtrek]

The military’s Annual Acquisition Plan for 2008-2010 (AAP 2008-10) lists out the cost of modernising the T-72 fleet as follows:

# New 1000-horsepower engines (identical to the T-90 tank) to replace the T-72’s old 780-horsepower engines. The cost of each engine: Rs 3 crore.

# Thermal Imaging Fire Control Systems (TIFCS) that will allow the T-72 gunners to observe and fight at night. Each TIFCS will cost Rs 1.4 crore.

# Thermal Imaging (TI) sights to provide T-72 tank commanders with night vision. Each TI sight costs Rs 0.4 crore.

# An auxillary power unit (APU) to generate power for the tank’s electrical systems. Each APU will cost Rs 0.16 crore.

The Rs 5-crore cost of upgrading each T-72 knocks out the argument that the T-72 — at Rs 9 crore apiece — is value-for-money.

Retrofitting upgraded systems will escalate the cost of the T-72 to Rs 14 crore.

Army to spend billions on outdated T-72 tanks

[navtrek]

Thermal Imaging system for T-72 tanks

The Russian-made T-72 tank fleet of the Indian Army is undergoing an upgradation programme to equip thermal imaging capabilities to its night vision system, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Defence minister AK Antony told the Lower House in a written reply during question hour that the process of upgrading the night fighting capabilities of the T-72 tanks with thermal imaging was an ongoing process.

He said the fleet was being optimally used and was the mainstay of the present tank fleet. "The entire fleet of this tank is fully battle worthy with high mission and operational reliability."

Of the total holding of T-72 tanks, a part of them was already equipped with high-end technology night vision device, which was fully integrated and exploited, he said.

India currently operates about 1,800 T-72 tanks.

Antony also said ten indigenously produced T-90 tanks under Transfer of Technology agreement with Russia were handed over to the Army on August 24 this year and the tanks' salient features were similar to the first lot of T-90 tanks imported from Russia.

India had in 2001 bought 310 T-90 tanks from Russia with the scope for manufacturing 1,000 of them indigenously through technology transfer. Last year, India had placed a follow-on order for 300 more T-90 tanks from Russia. Antony also informed the Lok Sabha that the government had signed a contract for upgrading MiG-29 fighter aircraft with Russia's RAC-MiG on March 7 last year and the process would be carried out in two phases -- Design and Development (D&D) phase in Russia and Series Upgrade in India.

While the upgradation of six MiG-29 aircraft under the D&D phase commenced in August last year, the Series Upgrade for the remaining aircraft was expected to be carried out from June 2010 onwards.

The total cost of the upgradation programme would be $964 million, Antony said.

IAF currently has about 60 MiG-29s being operated by three of its leading fighter squadrons. Two of these squadrons are deployed in Punjab and the other in Gujarat.

Antony said the IAF's bid to buy 126 medium multi-role combat aircraft was at the stage of field trials of the six competing fighter aircraft and the contract is likely to cost Rs42,000 crore.

The IAF had issued the tenders in 2007 and the six competing companies -- American firms Boeing and Lockheed Martin, Russian MiG, Swedish SAAB, French D'Assault, European consortium EADS -- had submitted their bids in early 2008, following which a lengthy technical evaluation of the bids were completed early this year.

DNA: India - Thermal Imaging system for T-72 tanks

[gowthamraj]

navtrek. Thanks for info's. It cool na

[anathema]

Time has come to replace T72 and instead we are upgrading them.... It is akin to giving a old man specs to see at night !!

Army is probably the worse when it comes to actively upgrading and modernizing its force ...everything from Artillery to tanks is late !

[Break the Silence]

Time has come to replace T72 and instead we are upgrading them.... It is akin to giving a old man specs to see at night !!

Army is probably the worse when it comes to actively upgrading and modernizing its force ...everything from Artillery to tanks is late !

Yes, I second to you!!! We should replace them instead of upgrading them..

[jha]

^^^ Yup..i agree..Army is the most corrupt arm of the armed forces..
however they are neglected more often than AF or, Navy..

About upgrading T-72s..They still are very potent Tanks and with Night vision they can serve for atleast 15 more years..We dont have the infrastructure to build 3000 T-90s..
Another reason for upgrading these may be the demand by army for FMBT..which they hope to start inducting from 2020 which is actually advantageous for DRDo..they can develop a new formidable tank by then..

[Archie]

Well one thing is clear , and that is that the T-72M1 is not going any where
Army plans to upgrade 2000 T-72 MBT , out of which first batch of 694 T-72 are undergoing upg to Ajeya MK2 Standards
Secondly the number of T-72 in indian service is 2418 out of which around 2200 are active and the rest in storage
Thats a huge number not likely to be replace in this decade atleast
Frankly army plans to upg only those tanks which are about 25 or lesser years old ,not the ones which are 32yrs old , those will be retired
Army needs to mentain a fleet of 4000 tanks
now what is most required is replacement of old T-55 and Vijayanta Tanks which together make up 1300 tanks in active service and 1500 in storage
Now indian Army had signed the contracts for purchase of 1657 T-90 MBT , out of which around 657 are currently in service while remainig 1000 will be inducted at the rate of 100 a yr till the yr 2020
These 1000 T-90 will replace 1300 T-55 and Vijayantas , WHICH WILL THEN BE MOVED TO STORAGE

Secondly it is much cheaper to Upg these tanks than to buy brand new tanks of similar capability
Reason : Upg of 2000 T-72 Tanks @ 5 crore each translate to Rs 10000 crores(2.2 Billion USD)
Purchase of new tanks at minimum price of 15 crore for T-90 will cost 30000 crores(7 Billion USD)
Now considering the fact that T-72 will serve for another 15-20 yrs ,while a brand new tank will serve for a Max 40 yrs , it does not really make much of a difference

And notting the fact that T-72 ARE STILL QUITE POTENT i dont see indian army looking for there replacement before 2020 when army begins prospecting for FMBT
Also by 2020 , T-55 and Vijayantas would have been retired and indian tank fleet would look something like this
T-72 2000
T-90 1657
Arjun MK1 0248+
Arjun MK2 XXXXX

[flanker143]

i had read somewhere that t 72s can be turned into self propelled howitzers and army was also quite interested in them ......

sorry don't remember the gun or anything related to it ....

senior members plzz comment ..thanks in advance...

[Archie]

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i had read somewhere that t 72s can be turned into self propelled howitzers and army was also quite interested in them ......

sorry don't remember the gun or anything related to it ....

senior members plzz comment ..thanks in advance...

While that is possible , however Indian army is only concerned about using them as MBTs till 2030
So i dont think that they will be coverted into Self Propelled Howitzers

However Army has converted large number of T-55 and vijayantas ,about 800 of them into self propelled Howitzers