Indian Army to repurpose ageing T 72 tanks for high-risk missions

The Indian Army will convert its ageing T-72 main battle tanks (MBT) into remotely controlled autonomous armoured fighting vehicles to enhance their employability beyond their expected retirement from 2030 onwards and increase the Army’s capability to conduct high-risk missions in a technology-intensive, fast-paced environment.

The project envisions extending the T-72 fleet life and relevance by 15-20 years at significantly lower cost than new MBTs. It will enable unmanned high-risk missions like minefield entry, breaching, acting as decoys, advance guard, and reconnaissance patrols. The Army has an inventory of about 2,400 Soviet-origin T-72s, many of which have been licensed-produced in India. Besides plains and deserts, these have also been deployed in high altitude areas like Ladakh and on foreign missions like the Indian Peacekeeping Force in Sri Lanka. The fleet has undergone modernisation and upgradation programmes in the past to enhance its mobility, firepower, and protection.

The Army’s projected requirement is to convert the T-72 tank into a digitised, remotely operable vehicle that maintains mechanical reliability while enabling integration with higher-level control systems through an IP-based interface, according to a document released by the defence minister, Rajnath Singh, on March 19.

The project will be undertaken by the industry under the fourth edition of the Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with iDEX (ADITI) scheme as part of the defence ministry’s Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) initiative that promotes indigenisation.

The T-72 is a legacy platform and has been the backbone of India's armour profile since 1979, and is due to be replaced by an upgraded, futuristic platform. “Further, the Armoured Corps is in the process of implementing MUM-T architecture in the operational philosophy, which merits induction and integration of UAS and UGV with the MBT fleet as modern battlefield demands fusion of manned and unmanned systems to maintain combat edge over adversaries in a transparent and highly visible digitised battlefield,” the document states.

MUM-T refers to Manned-Unmanned Teaming, involving the operational integration of manned platforms with unmanned systems to increase surveillance, firepower, and situational awareness. This was validated during field exercises in 2025.

“Therefore, these legacy T-72 can be utilised in a judicious manner by converting them to autonomous armoured fighting vehicle platforms to augment the manned tanks and implement MUM-T operational framework,” the document adds.

The project covers the technology domains of robotics, sensor fusion, automation, guidance, navigation, and control. The industry partner will be required to deliver two prototypes of a fully validated autonomous kit enabling the T-72 to function as an optionally manned autonomous battle tank.

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Courtesy: The Tribune -30-Mar-2026