The Indian Army is sending a large number of T-90S main battle tanks and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles and other ground vehicles to the border area with China. At the same time, the Indian Air Force has also dispatched AH-64 Apache gunships and Mi-17 transport helicopters and other equipment.
But according to military expert Zhang Zhaozhong, although the Indian army’s tanks, armored vehicles, and helicopters are coming fiercely, they cannot pose an effective threat to the main equipment deployed by the Chinese forces.
The Indian Army also knows that the T-90S main battle tank is not suitable for highland combat, but it is too late to build light tanks. So they continue to buy.
At present, the Indian Ministry of Defense has approved a batch of emergency procurement requirements to purchase 2S25 Sprut-SD self-propelled anti-tank guns from Russia as a “plateau tank” for the Indian Army.
However, the problem is that the Sprut-SD self-propelled anti-tank gun is too “lightweight”. The vehicle armor is sacrificed in pursuit of mobility, and it can only withstand the shooting of 23mm weapons. Even the Russian army itself did not purchase Sprut-SD on a large scale. Currently, only 24 of them are in service with the Russian Airborne Army. The Russian army also canceled subsequent orders…
This is probably just another “fishing project” of Russia – using the Indian defense budget to digest the excess capacity of the Russian army, according to Zhang.
In recent years, India has established several production lines or assembly lines of Russian-made weaponry and American-made weaponry, including star products such as T-90S tanks and “Apache” helicopters, through “licensed production”. Although it appears that India has achieved the “localization” of weapons and equipment, at the same time, the research and development or production of the “Arjun” tank, the Tejas fighter and the “Vikramatia” aircraft carrier have stalled.
The localization of weapons is an important indicator for judging a country’s national defense strength, which involves a series of issues such as equipment stability, logistics maintenance, and war costs. “Localization” itself is certainly a comprehensive consideration of a country’s industrial level and technological development.