Anti-Armour Weapons A Work In Progress

While anti-armour weapons have undergone a massive technological and generational transformation in the last seven decades, India is yet to catch up with the world in terms of volumes. The possibility of a two-front war scenario with Pakistan and China notwithstanding, it is time for the newly-elected NDA-3 government to do the needful towards building a robust ecosystem for precision-strike weapons development and manufacturing in the long run, writes Amartya Sinha

- Amartya Sinha

Since the end of the Second World War in 1945, high-velocity heavy calibre projectiles, explosive rounds and landmines have always remained the favourite weapons of professional armies all across the world. While it is easy to engage a stationary human target with a sniper rifle from long distances, it is comparatively difficult to engage highspeed mobile targets like battle tanks and armoured vehicles with LRDLOS (Long Range Direct Line of Sight) firing. China has developed a large ground-force based on armoured infantry and mechanised artillery columns and Pakistan too, is in the process of inducting large numbers of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles in its army. The emerging threats emanating from rapidly moving armoured columns in the tactical level battlefield need to be tackled with an appropriate Indian response. While the Indian Army has​ largely depended on imported antiarmour weapons since the last three decades, some indigenous projects have started yielding satisfactory results in recent years. Following is a sneak peek into the current anti-armour fighting capabilities of the Indian Army and also some of the upcoming projects.

MILAN 2T Anti-tank guided missile