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India's Army appears to have embarked on a major modernization effort. The Indian Army has one million soldiers organized into five regional commands (North, West, Central, South and East). It has separate divisional structures to manage threats for China and Pakistan, the former with nine mountain divisions and the latter with three armored and four mechanized divisions. Nineteen infantry divisions, 15 independent brigades, and other support units round out the current army force structure. In response to the Kargil crisis in the summer of 1999, new equipment is being purchased. While artillery fire control and mountain gear are at the top of the priority list, the major end-item is T-90 tanks.1
Indian Main Battle Tank Fleet
It is estimated that the Indian Army main battle tank (MBT) fleet consists of 3,400 tanks, including those held in reserve. These include 1,170 Vijayanta (a British Vickers export model built for India), 1,530 T-72M1, and 700 T54/T-55 MBTs. These are organized into 60 armored regiments, each of which has an authorized strength of 45 MBTs. Of the 60 regiments, it is estimated that 34 are equipped with the T-72M1 with the remainder being equipped with the Vijayanta. The T-54/T-55 MBTs are held in reserve.2
The Vijayanta: In late 1950, Vickers Defence Systems designed a new MBT specifically for export that used the standard 105mm L7 rifled tank gun, the same gun that was used on the U.S. M60 and early MI tanks, with automotive components from the British Chieftain MBT. Following the evaluation of competing British and German designs to meet an Indian Army requirement for a new MBT, manufactured in India, an agreement was signed in August 1961 between Vickers Defence Systems and the Indian government. This agreement covered building prototypes in the United Kingdom, supplying 90 production tanks, and building a new tank facility at Avadi to undertake production of the Vickers Mk 1 MBT. The Indian Army calls the tank the Vijayanta.3
The first two prototypes were completed in 1963. One was sent to India and the other remained in the United Kingdom for research and development work. In 1965, the first production models were delivered from Vickers. Indian production models rolled off the production line in January 1965. The initial Indian Vijayanta was built...