DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Tanks For Everything

DTN News - DEFENSE NEWS: Tanks For Everything 

(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - December 10, 2014:  Almost every country in the Asia-Pacific has embarked on military modernisation programmes which include overhauling their Main Battle Tank (MBT) fleets. This article will examine MBT procurement and upgrade programmes ongoing around the region.

by John Ross

Military analysts at IHS Jane’s note the increased defence spending of Asia-Pacific countries which has risen from 13.5 percent in 2012, to $24.5 billion in 2014, with that figure projected to rise to $40 billion by 2016. In Indonesia military spending increased by 82 percent from 2002 to 2012. Singapore, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), has become the fifth largest arms importer in the world allocating over 20 percent of its national budget to defence. Thailand’s defence expenditure is being driven by modernisation initiatives in addition to border disputes and security threats. The country aims to increase defence expenditure as a percentage of its gross domestic product from 1.5 percent in 2011 to 1.8 percent in 2016. A large amount of this increased spending throughout the Asia-Pacific will go towards enhancing MBT fleets.

India

The Indian Army plans to procure a total of 1657 Uralvagonzavod T-90 MBTs by 2020, which will include 1000 tanks produced indigenously under a full technology transfer agreement with Russia, with all parts made in India. A total of 59 armoured regiments are to be equipped with around 1600 tanks. The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) which oversees procurement in India has cleared manufacture of 235 T-90 tanks at the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) located at Avadi in south-east India. For those T-90s already in operation with the Indian Army, the force will upgrade more than 600 of these MBTs with new optronics, navigation systems and fire control for a total of $250 million. The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) formally approved the army’s three-year-old proposal for the T-90 upgrade in February 2014. In keeping with the country’s overriding desire to move towards domestic defence provision self sufficiency, an Indian MoD source said that the tender for the upgrade will be sent only to domestic defence companies.

*Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by K. V. Seth from reliable sources Asian Military Review

*Presented & compiled for DTN News ~ Defense-Technology News 

*Photograph: IPF (International Pool of Friends) + DTN News / otherwise source stated

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