With Russian attention and resources committed to its years-long bloody invasion against neighboring Ukraine, military customers like India are forced to find other solutions to address both modern and aging battlefield systems. Case-in-point is the several thousand Soviet-Russian T-72 Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) in service with the Army, a design born in the late 1960s and modernized as the local T-72 "Ajeya" and "Ajeya" Mk.2 offerings. While the series is set to be succeeded by the in-development Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV), the design still faces years of operational service.
The Indian Army employs both the Soviet-Russian T-72 as well as the Russian T-90 in its active inventory. The T-90 is seen in its T-90S "Bishma" / "Beeshma" form and incorporates some locally-originated equipment and technology. Of note is that, despite years of work placed into the local "Arjun" MBT project, the Indians elected to commit to the Russian T-90 when the decision was ultimately forced. The Arjun remains in active service - though with just 124 Mk.1 models joined by a pair of Mk.1A variants (a further 118 of the latter remain on order in 2024). This leaves thousands of T-72 and T-90 tanks in circulation for the time being.
In late 2023, the Indian Army began looking for avenues to extend the useful service lives of their T-72 fleet. The service still faces formidable opponents in regional rivals Pakistan and China should war break out between the parties once more.
Against this backdrop, local work has been undertaken by the Indian Army's Corps of EME ("Electronics and Mechanical Engineers") to produce a possible short-term successor by way of a T-72/T-90 hybrid, combining the more enhanced, modern elements of the Russian T-90S/SM (as the "Bheeshma" locally) and the T-72M1 ("Ajeya") with, again, local technologies and equipment. A pilot vehicle was unveiled at the "Know Your Army Festival" in Lucknow, India in January of 2024.
The proposed resulting design retains the hull of the T-72 and incorporates the complete two-man powered turret with autoloader of the T-90. Internally, the tank also carries the T-90's V92S2 mutli-fueled engine of 1,000 horsepower as its powerpack which, when combined with the T-72 hull, results in a lighter overall combat vehicle - potentially improving performance. To enhance crew and systems survivability, the vehicle features enhanced protection from Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) blocks at various critical facings of the design. As is the case with most Soviet-Russian tank designs, the main gun barrel of the proposed T-72/T-90 hybrid MBT has inherent support for firing Anti-Tank Guided-Missiles (ATGMs) as an additional armor-defeating measure. Smoke grenade dischargers take up their usual place on the turret sides and a co-axial machine gun is joined by a roof-mounted Anti-Aircraft (AA) / anti-armor machine gun.
Power & Performance Those special qualities that separate one land system design from another. Performance specifications presented assume optimal operating conditions for the T-72/T-90 Hybrid Main Battle Tank (MBT) Proposal.
1 x V92S2 12-cylinder multi-fueled / diesel-fueled engine developing 1,000 horsepower driving conventional track-and-wheel arrangement. Installed Power
40 mph 65 kph Road Speed
373 miles 600 km Range
Structure The physical qualities of the T-72/T-90 Hybrid Main Battle Tank (MBT) Proposal.
3 (MANNED) Crew
31.7 ft 9.65 meters O/A Length
12.3 ft 3.75 meters O/A Width
7.4 ft 2.25 meters O/A Height
100,972 lb 45,800 kg | 50.5 tons Weight
Armament & Ammunition Available supported armament, ammunition, and special-mission equipment featured in the design of the IAEME Atharva Main Battle Tank (MBT) Proposal.
1 x 125mm smoothbore main gun with autoloader.
1 x 12.7mm Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) on turret roof.
1 x 7.62mm Medium Machine Gun (MMG) in coaxial mounting in front turret face.
12 x Smoke grenade dischargers.
AMMUNITION: 42 x 125mm projectiles (estimated).
500 x 12.7mm ammunition (estimated).
1,200 x 7.62mm ammunition (estimated)
12 x Smoke grenades.
Variants Notable series variants as part of the IAEME Atharva family line.
T-72/T-90 Hybrid - Base Project.
Operators Global customers who have evaluated and/or operated the IAEME Atharva. Nations are displayed by flag, each linked to their respective national land systems listing.
Total Production: 1 Units Contractor(s): Indian Army Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) - India
[ India (proposed) ]
Going Further... The IAEME Atharva Main Battle Tank (MBT) Proposal appears in the following collections:
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