According to the Indian outlet, the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) have teamed up to develop an indigenous light tank that is optimized for the extreme cold and high altitude of Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh. This comes as the Indian Army is on a major drive to equip itself adequately on the Sino-Indian border. According to Army sources, the DRDO has given L&T a development order to produce the first prototype of an indigenous, 25-tonne light tank.

AoN, or an in-principle agreement, has been given for seven light tank regiments, each with 45 tanks, by the Indian Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) top body for capital purchases, according to Business Standard. While the MoD purchases the other six regiments through the “Make” process, the AoN requires L&T, the MoD’s development partner, to create one regiment of light tanks.

The shell of the light tank, which was jointly developed by DRDO and L&T, would house an 800-horsepower engine that has been tuned for use at high altitudes. The engine will be supplied by Rolls-Royce’s affiliate in Germany, MTU. A 105-millimeter gun turret, purchased ready-built from the Belgian company John Cockerill Defence, will be mounted on this hull.

Despite the fact that there are many options for the tracked chassis, including those from the United States, Western Europe, Turkey (Kaplan MT), Asia, and Russia (the latter of which is becoming less and less likely due to US sanctions threatening the nations and industries working with Russian providers), the initial choice of the Belgian manufacturer John Cockerill leads one to believe that the Cockerill 3105 with its 105mm cannon will be the one to equip the future I.A.

A two-man power-operated turret system is the Cockerill 3105. Light tanks, armored personnel carriers, and wheeled reconnaissance vehicles are just a few examples of armoured vehicles that employ it most frequently. It is equipped with a 105mm rifled cannon that can fire a variety of munitions, such as high-explosive, armour-piercing, and high-explosive anti-tank rounds. Because the gun is stabilized in two axes, it can be fired accurately even when the vehicle is moving. Additionally, it has an automatic loader with a 12-round capacity. In addition to the primary gun, the turret has a

For air defense, there is a roof-mounted 12.7mm machine gun and a coaxial 7.62mm machine gun. The crew can properly engage targets even in limited visibility because to the advanced fire control and sighting equipment installed in the turret, including a laser rangefinder and infrared imaging.