Indian Army continues to dream of light tanks
One contender for the Indian Army’s new light tank is Hanwha Defense’s K21-105, needed for operations in mountainous areas. (Photo: Gordon Arthur)
India will adopt an indigenously designed light tank - or adopt one from overseas - to equip army forces in mountainous areas.
A light air-transportable and amphibious tank – under joint development by India’s government-run Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and private vendor Larsen & Toubro – is competing against comparable models from Israel, South Korea and Russia to meet an Indian Army requirement for 350 units.
Industry sources at DefExpo 2022 said that a prototype of this light tank – named Zorawar – is likely to be ready for trials by late 2023. However, details of the DRDO-L&T collaboration remain opaque in terms of its design and series manufacture.
Significantly, if any of the three rival overseas light tank designs
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