India Offers Its Battle-Tested T-90 Bhishma Upgrade Package to Global Operators, Sources Say

India's Defence Industry Takes a Giant Leap Forward

In a move that is set to reshape the global defence landscape, India has emerged as a major player in the tank upgrade market. The country's defence industry has been working tirelessly to upgrade its T-90 Bhishma main battle tank, and the results are nothing short of remarkable.

The T-90 Bhishma is a testament to India's capabilities in defence manufacturing and upgrade. With its cutting-edge features and advanced sensors, it is one of the most sophisticated tanks in the world. The tank's mid-wave thermal imaging commander sight, developed jointly by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), has an impressive 8-kilometre detection range, making it an invaluable asset on the battlefield.

But the T-90 Bhishma's capabilities don't stop there. The tank's automatic target tracker and digital ballistic computer, derived from the Arjun programme, improve its first-round hit probability, making it a formidable opponent on the battlefield. And with the Defence Acquisition Council's clearance of more powerful 1,350-horsepower engines, the T-90 Bhishma's mobility shortfalls are a thing of the past.

India's Bhishma fleet is the most extensively upgraded and customised operator of the T-90 main battle tank anywhere in the world. And now, New Delhi is offering similar upgrade packages and long-term support to existing international customers. This move marks a significant shift in India's posture, positioning itself as a modernisation partner for other T-90 operators globally.

The T-90 family has been exported to more than ten countries since the 1990s, with Algeria, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Uganda, and Vietnam among the largest customers. But most of these fleets were delivered in baseline T-90S or T-90SA configuration and have not undergone the scale of sensor, fire-control, and mobility upgrades that India's tanks have received over the past two decades of indigenous development.

For India, offering upgrade support to existing T-90 operators serves multiple objectives simultaneously. It opens a potential export revenue stream for AVNL and its partner firms like BEL at a time when India's broader defence industry is being pushed toward higher export targets under the Atmanirbhar Bharat framework. It also leverages genuine intellectual and manufacturing capability built up over two decades of local production, rather than requiring fresh investment in an entirely new offering.

For customer nations operating ageing T-90 fleets, many of whom face uncertain access to Russian original equipment manufacturer support given Moscow's own production constraints and the diversion of resources toward the war in Ukraine, an Indian upgrade pathway could offer a more accessible and potentially faster route to modernisation than waiting on Uralvagonzavod's own upgrade programmes.

In conclusion, India's emergence as a major player in the tank upgrade market is a testament to its capabilities in defence manufacturing and upgrade. With its cutting-edge features and advanced sensors, the T-90 Bhishma is a formidable opponent on the battlefield. And with India's offer of upgrade packages and long-term support to existing international customers, the country is poised to become a major player in the global defence industry.