India to Purchase 400 Additional Russian T-90S Tanks - Total Inventory to Exceed 2000 Vehicles

Russian media outlet TASS has reported that the Indian Army has taken the decision to purchase an additional 400 T-90S battle tanks from Russia. The sale was also reported by the Head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev. The acquisition follows a deal for over 450 of the tanks in July 2018, and will bring the total size of India’s T-90 inventory to over 2000 tanks. The country acquired its first T-90 tanks in 2001, and in 2019 a deal was signed to extend licence manufacturing of the vehicles until 2028. The T-90S has been prized for its high survivability, low operational costs and considerable firepower, and has 60% parts commonality with the T-72 which India already deploys in even greater numbers.

While the T-90S is not the most advanced variant of the T-90 platform, it is more capable than the original T-90A which entered service in the 1990s - benefitting from features such as Kontakt-5 explosive reactive armour and more powerful 750 kW engines. The tanks enjoy a considerable advantage over all existing platforms in the Pakistani inventory, and are potentially a match for China’s elite Type 99 platforms. Increased recent interest in the T-90 is though to have come at least in part as a result of the failure of the indigenous Arjun battle tank program, which at well over a decade behind schedule has repeatedly failed to meet the Indian Army’s performance requirements. India has also shown an interest in acquiring more advanced and heavier T-14 battle tanks which are currently in limited service in the Russian Army, and the first contract for these vehicles is expected sometime in the mid 2020s.