Both these involve marrying the DRDO’s tank development expertise created while developing the Arjun tank, with the defence manufacturing capability of companies such as Larsen & Toubro that are already building the K9 Vajra self-propelled gun system. The latter declared the light tank to be superfluous, an assessment that would come to haunt it decades later in 2020. The DRDO light tank is a tracked amphibious light tank developed in India by DRDO. The K9 light tank’s 1000 Horse Power engine will give it a power-to-weight ratio of 28 HP/ tonne. Arrayed on the Ladakh border is the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA’s) new Anti-tank ammunition: DRDO developed the FSAPDS for the 125 mm calibre, meant for India's T-72 tanks, the 120 mm FSAPDS and HESH rounds for the Arjun tank and 105 mm FSAPDS rounds for the Army's Vijayanta and T-55 tanks. Last July, the Indian Ministry of Defence fast-tracked the emergency purchase of light tanks to counter possible attacks by over 20,000 Chinese troops poised on the Ladakh border along with tanks, artillery, air defence and road construction units, Ajai Shukla reports in Business Standard. Now, it will be replaced with the new equipment developed by us.” This was an old technology. It was the year 1976 when the Indian army released a GRQR for a light tank, which was approved in 1983. Significant amounts of 125 mm anti-tank rounds manufactured by the Ordnance Factory Board were rejected. Light tanks. A key overseas procurement the MoD has initiated is for light tanks. To eliminate the costly and time-consuming import of light tanks, the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) has developed plans for building an indigenous light tank for use in mountains and in jungle terrain. Amid the continuing tensions between India and China in eastern Ladakh, a decades-old requirement for a new light tank for the Indian Army has been approved.The tank will need to be air-transportable, ideally by rotary air, able to operate reliably at altitude, and have enough lethality to defeat similar platforms operated by peer opponents, namely the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Saga of DRDO light tank: As the need for light tank was sought by the Indian army, many on social media were quick to remind us of the light tank that DRDO developed but eventually ended up receiving a cold shoulder from the Indian army. The DRDO official told ThePrint, “So far, image intensive tubes were used for night sight in the tanks which had a range of 150-200 metres and also required some amount of light to process a clear image. Undaunted, the DRDO designed another light tank based on the same licence-built ICV chassis, by mounting it with a French GIAT TS-90 turret and a 105 mm gun. 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