On November 21, 2023, the Indian Army announced some details about its program for the renewal of T-72 tanks’ fleet named as 'Overhaul II of Tank T-72'.The Indian military wants to order an overhaul, which should ensure restoration of the T-72 tanks to "as good as new condition".
That is according to Janes.
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As the media notes, "the programme seeks to “neutralise effects of age, usage, and restoration of T-72 to near-zero hour [and] zero km state of operational readiness".
As Janes reports citing request for information issued by the Indian Army, "the T-72 restoration process comprises “stripping of the tank, removal of assemblies, stripping of the repairable assemblies, inspection of the components of repairable assemblies, and replacement of assemblies [that are not repairable] with new ones”.
The Military Balance 2023 guide indicates that the Indian Army has 2,148 T-72M1 tanks, 1,200 T-90S tanks. In addition, approximately 1,100 tanks of both types are in storage.
In view of this, it can be assumed that the order of the Indian army to update the T-72 fleet promises to be literally a mega-contract for almost 2,200 vehicles over several years. However, despite the very high level of military-technical cooperation between India and russia, it is unlikely that this contract for the renewal of tanks will be able to reach the russian plant "Uralvagonzavod".
As the Times of India previously wrote, the russian federation's war against Ukraine accelerated the movement of the Indian defense industries in the direction of obtaining the necessary competencies in order to independently, without the involvement of the russians, service the T-72 and T-90 tanks. This process is overseen by the Indian newly-formed state defense company - Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVNL), and the movement itself began after India was unable to buy the necessary spare parts for the tanks from the russians.
The AVNL already has everything necessary to independently service engines for Soviet and russian tanks. The plans for 2024 include full import substitution using only units and domestic components for servicing the T-72 and T-90.
After all, this same Indian state company AVNL as early as January 2023 demonstrated an interesting hybrid using the chassis of the T-90 and the turret of the T-72, which received the working designation T-79 Kumbhkaran or Nigama.
At that time, it was even assumed that if the tests of this hybrid were successful, the T-79 tank could be adopted by the Indian Army. However, so far no other news about the T-79 "hybrid" has been received.
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