Army Gets More Firepower, Ministry Of Defence Signs A $1.07 Billion Agreement With BEL For T-90 Tank Commander Sights

The Ministry of Defence inked a contract with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for the retro-modification of Commander sight of Battle Tanks-T-90 on Thursday, boosting the Centre’s ‘Make in India’ drive in the defence sector.

The Indian Army’s T-90 tanks will be retrofitted. There will be 957 of them. For night viewing, the commander sight of India’s flagship combat tank, the T-90, is currently equipped with an Image Converter (IC) tube-based sight.

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The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and BEL collaborated to design and build an upgraded Mid Wave Thermal Image (MWIR) based sight as a replacement for the existing IC-based sight, based on the Indian Army’s requirements.

The new retro-modified Commander sight, according to the Defence Ministry, uses a thermal imager capable of detecting targets at 8 kilometres during the day and night, as well as a Laser Ranger Finder (LRF) to accurately find ranges up to 5 kilometres, enhancing its capability to engage a target at longer ranges.

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The Commander of the T-90 can identify, engage, and eliminate targets with amazing precision because to ballistic software and LRF adjustments. Extensive field assessments were successfully performed by the indigenously created sight.

The indigenous creation of the Thermal Imager-based Commander Sight will provide domestic research and development and defence production a boost.