Author Topic: Vijayanta Main Battle Tank  (Read 3022 times)

Offline Rickshaw

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Vijayanta Main Battle Tank
« on: October 11, 2018, 04:59:31 PM »
The Vijayanta (en: "Victorious") was a main battle tank built in India based on a licensed design of the Vickers Mk.1. The Vijayanta was the first indigenous tank of the Indian Army. The prototype was completed in 1963 and the tank entered service in 1965. The first 90 vehicles were built by Vickers in the UK.  Production continued at the Heavy Vehicles Factory in Avadi until 1983 with 2,200 being built (other sources give much lower numbers: 1,600-1,800). A number of the tank hulls were converted to other uses such as self-propelled guns after being withdrawn from service.



n August 1961, following the evaluation of competing British and German MBT designs to meet an Indian requirement for a new MBT to be manufactured in India, an agreement was signed between Vickers (now Vickers Defence Systems) Limited of the UK and the Indian government. This agreement covered building prototypes in the UK, supplying 90 production tanks and building a new facility at Avadi, near Madras to undertake production of the Vickers MBT. The Indians call the tank the Vijayanta, or Victorious.

The first two prototypes were completed in 1963 and one was sent to India and the other retained in the UK for development work. The first production tanks were delivered from Vickers' Elswick works in 1965. The first Indian "Vijayanta, which was mainly built from components supplied by the UK, rolled off the production line at Avadi in January 1965. Since then India progressively undertook the production of more and more of the tank and eventually almost all of the tank was produced in India.









« Last Edit: October 11, 2018, 05:15:19 PM by Rickshaw »

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: Vijayanta Main Battle Tank
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2018, 07:51:10 PM »
Be nice to have a kit of it.
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Offline Rickshaw

  • "Of course, I could be talking out of my hat"
Re: Vijayanta Main Battle Tank
« Reply #2 on: October 13, 2018, 12:32:31 PM »
I think it would be possible to scratchbuild one, Greg.  You'd need to use a Centurion hull and turret, Centurion wheels - on a torsion bar suspension, with a 105mm L7 barrel.   That is essentially what it is, AIUI, in real life.   It was a Centurion with thinner armour and a better FCS, coupled with a cheaper suspension.   Always wondered why they didn't just produce a cheaper Centurion, actually.