TSAMTO, May 25. On May 22, the state-owned company Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVNL) handed over the thousandth T-90IM Bhishma tank assembled at national facilities to the Indian Ground Forces.
The ceremony of handing over the car took place at the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) in Avadi (Tamil Nadu). The abbreviation "IM" (indigenously manufactured) in the designation of the modification was introduced in order to distinguish between locally assembled machines (this name includes all modifications made in India) and batches of T-90, which were supplied in fully finished form from the Russian Federation in the early 2000s.
As already reported by CAMTO, the contract base of the T-90 licensed production program was formed in stages. The first contract for the supply of 310 T-90S tanks was signed in February 2001: 124 vehicles were supplied fully finished from Russian enterprises, the rest in the form of machine kits for final assembly at HVF Avadi. In 2006, the parties entered into an intergovernmental license agreement for the production of 1,000 T-90S tanks at HVF facilities. The key milestone in the implementation of the program was 2009, when the plant handed over to the Indian Army the first T-90S assembled from components of national production, unlike previous batches that were assembled from Russian–made components.
In November 2019, the Indian Ministry of Defense awarded the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) a contract for 464 T-90 MkIII tanks (Bhishma Mk III modification) worth about 200 billion. rupees (2.7-2.8 billion dollars) in continuation of the current license agreement. In 2021, the contract was reissued for AVNL, a company separated from OFB for the production of armored vehicles. In May 2024, AVNL handed over to the Indian Army the first batch of 10 T-90 Mk III tanks equipped with updated avionics of national production. The remaining 454 cars were planned to be delivered over the next five years.
The commercially available version of the T-90 Mk III is an upgraded version of the T-90S/SK. The combat weight of the vehicle is 50.7 tons. The main armament is a 125–mm 2A46M-5 smoothbore cannon with an automatic loader, with 42 rounds of ammunition. Additional armament includes a twin 7.62mm machine gun and a remote-controlled anti-aircraft machine gun mount. The power plant is powered by a 1,130 hp V12 diesel engine, which provides a maximum speed of up to 60 km/h and a range of up to 550 km. For the latest production series, a domestic engine with a capacity of 1,350 hp has been mastered, exceeding the performance of the Russian basic version.
The fire control system integrates a thermal imaging sight jointly developed by DRDO and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), a laser rangefinder with a range of up to 5 km, a digital ballistic computer and an automatic target tracking system borrowed from the Arjun tank project. Target detection is provided at a range of up to 8 km in conditions of round-the-clock use. The protection of the machine is provided by the Kontakt-5 dynamic protection complex, as well as the LEDS-150 active protection complex manufactured by Saab. The tank is equipped with means of protection against weapons of mass destruction.
According to AVNL, according to the T-90 Mk III modification, the localization level reaches 83%, including fully domestic engine production.
The achieved indicator is the result of more than 20 years of work on the development of technologies, the transfer of which from the Russian side was carried out in stages, primarily in relation to engine building and the electromechanical drive of the tower, which replaced the hydraulic system.
Since its foundation in 1961, HVF Avadi has consistently mastered the production of four generations of armored vehicles: Vijayanta tanks (licensed by the British company Vickers), T-72 Ajeya (Soviet license), Arjun (proprietary development) and T-90 Bhishma. The total production volume of armored vehicles at the plant's facilities has exceeded 4,600 units since its foundation.
The Indian Army currently operates a total of 3,740 main battle tanks. Taking into account various supply batches and production series, the total number of T-90 tanks in India is estimated at 1,657 units, including 310 early modified T-90S/SK vehicles and 1,347 upgraded variants. In February 2026, Rosoboronexport confirmed its readiness to assist India in deploying T-90MS production at existing facilities.
