India’s most important battle tanks had been comparatively superior by world standards. However, long delays in fielding the new “Arjun” MBT, together with a successful Pakistani/Ukrainian program along with the introduction of T-80UD “Al-Khalid” tanks, wrinkled India’s local advantage. In early October 2006, Indian Defense and leading Newspapers reported that the Indian Army proposed to produce nearly 1,000 T90S ‘Bhishma’ main battle tanks in India by 2020. These would be purchased from Russia as T-90S were recently introduced in the T-series of Russian tanks. It represents an increase in mobility, firepower, and security. It is produced by Uralvagonzavod in Nizhny Tagil in Russia.
T-90S better than T-72S:
The T-90 went into production in 1993 basis based on a prototype designated as the T-88. However seen as a new design at first, the T-90 is based on the T-72BM design. T-72BM is a T-72B improved version with third-generation Explosive Reactive Armor already used on the T-80U tanks.
More features from the T-80 series were supplemented to this basic design, including laser warning receivers, a new engine, a jamming system, and thermal sights. Therefore, the T-90S is much superior to the T-72. Since these tanks would be utilized for roughly more than three decades with a mid-life improvement, the T-90S was an apparent choice for the Indian Army.
Armament:
The Bhishma guard includes one 125mm 2A46M smoothbore gun. It is stabilized in two axes and built-in with a thermal covering. The gun tube can be effortlessly replaced without any dismantling inside the turret. The gun can fire a range of with time fuses. It also carries a rifle on a storage rack.
Self-protection:
The Bhishma tank has been protected by traditional armor plating and also with explosive reactive armor. It’s built-in with both passive and active defenses that make the Bhishma tank one of the best-safeguarded key battle tanks globally.
Mobility:
The tank is loaded with a snorkel for deep affording and can carry 5m of water with tools. It can be deployed in 20 minutes, to settle 5 meters-deep water obstacles. The motorized transmission includes a primary cutback gear, two planetary final gearboxes, and two planetary final drives.
Momentum:
The tank can carry up to 1,600 liters of fuel in the key fuel tanks and drums. The fuel tanks are defiant with armor plating.
Fire control and observation:
The Bhishma tank has an in-built 1A4GT integrated fire control system (IFCS). This is an automatic system along with manual overrules for the commanding officer.
Bhishma tank rolls out:
On 24th August ‘09, Bhishma tanks built locally rolled out (10 in number) at the Chennai Heavy Vehicles Factory. Minister of State for Defense Mr. Raju hailed the manufacturing of the tanks as a key milestone. The Bhishma tanks have some great features in the form of competence to shoot guided missiles through the same container as the one which shoots predictable missiles. The Indian Army is a proud owner of around 700 such tanks.