Tank engine manufacturing in India - Making sense of the nonsense!
(1) July 2018 - Engine Factory Avadi claims it has fully indigenized engines for T-90 (V92S2 Engine) and T-72 (V46-6 Engine) tanks.
- It claimed that indeginous content has gone-up from 73% to 100%.
(2) October 2018 - The Defense Acquisition Council has “accorded approval for procurement of 1000 engines of 1000 BHP for fitment in T-72 tanks of the Army under ‘Buy & Make’ category and at an approximate cost of over Rs 2300 crore [$313 million]”.
(3) Jan 2020 - Avadi Ordnance Factory doubles the manufacturing capacity of Battle Tanks for Indian army from 350 to 750 per annum. Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) project has been ordered at the cost of Rs. 148.4 crores.
(4) March 2025 - The Ministry of Defence has signed a contract with Rosoboronexport (RoE), Russian Federation worth $ 248 million for procurement of 1000 HP Engines for T-72 Tanks in fully formed, completely knocked down and semi knocked down conditions.
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Question is - Which engine we're getting? And why are we getting it directly from Russia?
Some plausible answers -
(1) The backlog in Engine Factory Avadi is so much for both new engines and overhaul of existing fleet that it cannot meet the requirement of upgrading T-72 on times.
- Consider this from 2016 CAG Report on Army Base Workshops with respect to Class A vehicles, tanks and BMPs.
Our examination revealed that as of September 2015, 15,240 indents placed by CAFVD up to March 2013 were overdue for delivery against nine factories responsible for supply of spares for Class “A” vehicles.
As far as supply of spares for BMP, Tank T-72 and the engines for both these vehicles are concerned, supplies against 10499, 1,122 and 2749 indents were awaited from HVF Avadi, EF Avadi and OF Medak respectively.
These include indents outstanding against EF Avadi since 2002-03 and on HVF since 2003-04.
[ In 2016, overhaul of BMP-2s and T-72s was stuck because of Engine Factory Avadi and others could not supply something for 10+ years!]
(2) Which engine we're getting? Well, the V92S2 seems the only possible choice, the one we're supposedly 100% indigenized 7 years back!
- The ultimate victim of all this issues with Indian defense manufacturing and procurement are the Armed Forces!
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Indian defense procurement is not for the beginners!
