1 min readAug 15, 2018
- First indigenous battle tank of Indian Army was built in India named Vijayanta. Prototype was completed in 1963 and tank entered on service in 1965. Indo-pakistan war and Operation blue star was fought with the help of this tank. It was manufactured by Vickers-Armstrongs, of weight 39000kg, length 9.788m, width 3.168m, height 2.711m and with 4 crew members.
70 Vijayanta Mark 1 tanks were later fitted with Marconi’s SFCS 600 fire control system. Under the "Bison" project there have been several attempts to upgrade the Vijayanta but only small number was upgrated. The Vijayanta Mark 1B was fitted with the AL 4421 which incorporates a British Barr & Stroud Tank laser sight and a computer to increase first round hit probability.
Vijayanta was to be phased out by the India Army by 2008. Bulk production of Vijayanta spares ended in 1988.
