Russia is ready to share T-14 Armata tank technologies with India to develop new MBT.

According to information published by "The Eurasian Times" on February 14, 2023, during Aero India defense aerospace that is taking place in Bengaluru, India, the Russian defense industry announced a plan to share the technology of the new Russian-made T-14 Armata Main Battle Tank (MBT) for the joint development of the future Indian Army’s MBT.
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Russian-made T-14 Armata Main Battle Tank MBT (Picture source: Army Recognition)

On June 1, 2022, the Indian Ministry of Defense released an RFI (Request for Information) to procure over 1,700 Future Ready Combat Vehicles (FRCVs) in a phased manner under the strategic partnership route, with the induction of the “future tank” expected to be completed by 2030.

According to the Indian RFI, the procurement of the new Indian-made MBT will include the transfer of technology, performance-based logistics, engineering support package, and other maintenance and training requirements. The goal of the new procurement is to replace the old fleet of Soviet-design T-72 tanks currently in service with the Indian army.

Today, in terms of Main Battle Tanks, the Indian army has a total of 3,640 MBTs including 122 Arjun, 2,418 T-72M1, 1,100 T-90S, and around 1,100 various models in store.

In 1982, the Indian defense started production under license of the Soviet-design T-72M under the local name of Ajeya. The Indian version is similar to the Soviet-made T-72M1 but fitted with Indian-made some subsystems and components. It has the same armament consisting of one 125 mm 2A46 smoothbore tank gun and one 7.62 mm caliber PKT coaxial machine gun.

For many months, the Government of India, as part of the Make in India initiative, seeks to indigenize manufacturing and reduce dependence on imports for defense. With the new procurement of MBT, India would like to produce locally its latest generation of tanks.

Defense cooperation is an important pillar of the India-Russia strategic partnership. It is guided by the Agreement on the Program for Military Technical Cooperation signed between the two countries. The Agreement for 2021-2031 was signed during the inaugural meeting of the India-Russia 2+2 Dialogue which was held in Delhi on 6th December 2021.

The T-14 Armata is the latest generation of Russian-made Main Battle Tank that was unveiled for the first time to the public in May 2015. The tank integrates new technology in terms of firepower, mobility and protection. it is not yet in service with the Russian army but some rumors announce the deployment of the T-14 tank for combat operations in Ukraine.