India has begun the process of procuring counter-drone systems for tanks already in service with its army. Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh announced plans to equip existing combat vehicles with domestic C-UAS systems.
The backbone of India's tank fleet consists of Russian T-72 and T-90 tanks. The specific configuration of the new system is not yet known.
The main feature of the program is that anti-drone protection is intended to be installed directly on already operational tanks, without waiting for new platforms to emerge.
According to open sources, India operates about 2,400 T-72M1 Ajeya tanks, which were built at the Heavy Vehicles Factory in Avadi. The republic's army also operates more than 1,200 T-90 family tanks and up to 120 indigenously developed Arjun combat vehicles.
Ivan Grachev, a researcher at the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted that Russia earned 6 billion dollars from T-90S deliveries to India throughout their cooperation.