India to produce new indigenous engines for T-72 Ajeya and T-90 Bhishma tanks.

India has produced two new engines for main battle tanks T-72 Ajeya and T-90 Bhishma manufactured by the Engine Factory Avadi (EFA), a unit of Ordnance Factory Board. India has launched the "Make in India" program to boost the production of local defense products.

The T-90 Bhishma is Russian T-90 produced under license in India since 2004. (Picture source Army Recognition)

The engines, V-46-6 will powered the T-72 Ajeya while the V92S2 will be used to mmotorize the T-90 Bhishma Main Battle Tanks (MBT).

The Indian Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said "“indigenisation of two of the three types of tanks used by the Army, had made the Army battle-ready”. She added "We have the capability and talent to produce our own products, but we continue to import. This is why Prime Minister Modi started ‘Make In India’.”

The T-90 Bhishma is Russian T-90S produced under license in India since 2004. The T-90 Bhishma design was essentially identical to the Russian T-90. It has a new automatic loader, Fire Control System (FCS), main gun (2A46M-5) and powerplant of 1,130 horsepower output.

Main armament consists of one 2A46M 125mm smoothbore gun able to fire armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot (APFSDS), high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT-FS), and high explosive fragmentation (HE-FRAG) ammunition, as well as 9M119M Refleks anti-tank guided missiles.

Indian army T-72 Ajeya main battle tank (Picture source Pinterest)

The T-72 Ajeya is a Russian T-72M/T-72M1 produced under license in India which started in the late 1970’s. Its believed some 1,700 have been delivered to the Indian Army. The T-72 Ajeya Mk1 is an Indian version of the Russian-made T-72M1, built at Avadi. The T-72 Ajeya Mk1 is equipped with a full ERA (Explosive Reactive Armour) protection and 12 smoke grenade launchers.

The T-72 Ajeya Mk1/Mk2 is armed with one 125 mm 2A46 smoothbore tank gun. Second armament of the T-72A includes one 7.62 mm caliber PKT machine gun mounted coaxially to the right of the main armament and has 250 rounds of ready use ammunition and a new design of 12.7 mm caliber NSV machine gun mounted on the commander's cupola.

The T-72 Ajeya Mk1/Mk2 is fitted with an automatic carousel loader is mounted on the turret floor and also on the rear wall of the turret. The carousel carries 24 ready use projectiles.