October 6, 2006: India has decided to standardize on the Russian T-90 tank. The Indian army already has 310 Russian made T-90s, which cost about $2.6 million each. Most of these were assembled in India. However, India will manufacture another thousand or so T-90s, under license, and with many Indian made components. This will be at least a third cheaper than buying them from Russia. Production will begin by 2008. The first T-90 entered service in 1993, and Russia has already purchased 400. India is the only other user.
The T-90 is basically an upgraded T-72, which India already builds under license. The T-90 weighs about 15 percent more than the 41 ton T-72. The T-90 has a better fire control system, night vision that is good out to about 1,500 meters, and electronic countermeasures for anti-tank missiles. The autoloader, which often failed in the T-72, is more reliable. The T-90 has ERA (Explosive Reactive Armor), in addition to it's composite armor. The T-90 is not as lively as the T-72, and is actually slower on the battlefield than the U.S. M-1 (which has a horsepower to weight ratio of 24:1, compared to only 18:1 for the T-90.) The 125mm gun of the T-90 is basically the same as the T-72. However, if you use better ammo, you stand a chance against top rated tanks like the M-1. But that is not what India expects to face. The most likely opponent is Pakistan, which is largely equipped with 1950s era T-55s (actually the Chinese T-59 copy). The Pakistanis also have 700 or so older, T-72 type tanks (Chinese T-69 and Ukrainian T-80), but these would be outclassed by the T-90. India plans to have 21 tank battalions ("regiments" in the Indian army) of T-90s (with 62 tanks each) by 2020. Actually, each battalion only has 45 tanks going into combat. The other 17 are for training and replacements. This is an old Russian custom, which spares the "combat ready" tanks a lot of use by designating a few tanks for training.