PM Virtual Endorsement of Zorawar Light Tank Will Keep Competitors at bay

Indian Light Tank Zorawar in Ladakh December 2024

As per multiple media reports and the Indian Prime Minister’s X account [as below], in the visit to Larsen & Toubro's Hazira manufacturing facility in Gujarat's Surat district, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the indigenous 'Zorawar' light tank and other defence systems being manufactured at the facility.

Prime Minister was briefed by company officials on various engineering and defence production initiatives.

The Zorawar tank is jointly developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and L&T Defence and is an IDDM product thus Priority 1 in Defence Acquistions.

Competition for Zorawar

Zorawar's route to development and fielding faced some competition as even as Indian Light Tank (ILT) achieved milestone by firing a number of rounds at different ranges at an altitude of more than 4200m, at a High Altitude Location with consistently accurate results in December last year, the Ministry of Defence initiated fast completion of the Army  essential Operational requirement with State-owned Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVNL) partnering with Russian defence firms Rosoboronexport (ROE) and High Precision Systems (HPC) for a modified version of the 2S25 Sprut-SD light tank for the Indian Army

The Army carried out Phase I trial in desert environment in September 2024. This light tank has been defined, designed and developed by Combat Vehicles Research & Development Establishment, the Chennai-based laboratory of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) against the Provisional Staff Qualitative Requirements of Indian Army.

With the Prime Minister virtually endorsing the Zorawar Tank during the visit to the L & T complex in Hazira, this will be the preference for procurement now by the Indian Army.

Background Acquisition of Light Tanks for Indian Army

The necessity for a light tank for the Indian Army was anticipated some years back, however the proposal after some preliminary moves for development through the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in the 1990’s did not take off possibly due to shifting priorities.

The long standoff in Eastern Ladakh that has continued since May 2020 saw the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deploying light tanks.

In response the Indian Army had in place and moved T 72 and T 90 medium tanks. These were found unsuitable in the some areas which lacked the deployability and possibly operational requirements led for the proposal for procurement of light tanks was revived.

The Indian Army issued a Request for Information (RFI) the primary objective of which is to assist the service HQ in formulation of the Service QRs to enable practical evolution of either and Expression of Intent (EOI) and Request for Proposal. This also assists in estimation of the budgetary cost as is indicated in the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020.

The RFI denotes that the Army intends to acquire approximately 350 Light Tanks in a phased manner planned to be procured under the “ ‘Make-in-India’ ethos and spirit of the DAP – 2020”.

This denotes that the intent is to outline the SQRs for acquisition under the Make category of DAP 2020.

The DAP relevant section on the issue states that, “In line with the Government’s ‘Make in India’ programme, several initiatives have been taken in the recent years to build a robust defence industrial ecosystem capable of meeting existing and future requirements of the Armed Forces. The emerging dynamism of the Indian industry needs to be gainfully utilised to build domestic capabilities for designing, developing and manufacturing state of the art defence equipment”.

There are a number of options for procurement under this proposal.

Make 1 Category

Under the Make I category design and development of major platforms is undertaken. As per DAP 2020, Make-I (Government Funded) projects involving design and development of equipment, systems, major platforms or upgrades will be undertaken where the, “MoD will provide financial support up to 70% of prototype development cost or maximum “.

DRDO Developed

The other option is to progress the development through the DRDO/DPSU/OFB [corporatized in the near future], These cases would be categorised as ‘Buy (Indian-IDDM)’ for subsequent procurement from the industry partner of DRDO or DPSU/OFB.

The lead time required for procurement through these means will be around five to seven years.

On the other hand, the requirement is for the Army to acquire the light tanks urgently due to the operational requirements.

Buy and Manufacture in India

Towards this end the proposal could envisage acquisition through the Buy (Global - Manufacture in India) route resulting in “ outright purchase of equipment from foreign vendors, in quantities as considered necessary, followed by indigenous manufacture of the entire/part of the equipment and spares/assemblies/sub-assemblies/Maintenance along with Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility etc”. The indigenous content has to be 50% IC on cost basis of the Base Contract Price.

At present there are essentially three light tanks which are globally on the manufacturing stream – the Russian Sprut-SDM1, South Korean Hanwa K21-105 and the Israel Elbit systems ASCOD 2 Sabrah.

Of these the Russian Sprut is the classic light tank with a 125 mm gun which may be suited for the operational role desired in Eastern Ladakh but is a dated armoured vehicle with light protection.

Conclusion

Of the multiple options discussed it is apparent that the Zorawar light tank is the most viable and an indigenous development thus beating others in the race so to say, but it required endorsement by the Prime Minister to keep spoilers at bay.