Zorawar Light Tank: A Testament to India's

Self-Reliance in Defence Innovation

Ravi Gupta

Designed, developed, realised and demonstrated in a record time of just three years by the DRDO in association with our own industries, Zorawar, the Indian Light Tank (ILT) has been making news and is all set to redefine tank warfare. According to a press release of M/o Defence, In an integrated manner, the design to realisation to demonstration at high altitude has been achieved in three years. The Indian Light Tank (ILT) has achieved a major milestone by firing a number of rounds at different ranges at an altitude of more than 4200m, at a High Altitude Location with consistently accurate results.

 With Larsen & Toubro Ltd. as the main collaborator, a large number of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) of Bharat have contributed to the development of various sub-systems. Thus, this development is also a demonstration of Bharat's prowess in rapid design, development, realisation, testing and evaluation of such highly complex military 'systems of system' for the world's most demanding and challenging battlefield conditions prevalent in high altitude regions of our country. Zorawar has been designed as a 25-ton class modern armoured combat vehicle to meet the specific requirements of our Armed Forces for such high altitude applications, making it transportable by rail, road as well as air. 

Battle tanks have been an essential component of military offensives since their invention in 1915 and use in World War-I (WW-I). Tanks are designed to keep the soldier armed with required firepower and mobility while remaining protected during military offensives. A modern battle tank is equipped with a variety of weapons, sensors and equipment, providing a wide range of assistance to soldiers, in addition to fulfilling primary requirements of Protection, Mobility and Firepower. Ideally, one would like to maximise these three primary characteristics and be best equipped. However, there's a catch, enhancing any one among these adversely affects the other two. Any enhancement in protection or a more powerful gun for example, increases the weight too and cannot be achieved without compromising the tank's mobility. In practice therefore, a major component of Battle Tank design involves balancing these three and optimising the tank for a given set of battlefield scenarios.

With CVRDE-the Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment as lead laboratory, the DRDO has carried out pioneering work in areas related to Armoured Combat Vehicles. Thus, Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT) was indigenously designed and developed in accordance with a very stringent set of requirements laid down by the Army that included accommodating a crew of four in the tank. The development was taken up in an era when our country was yet to have an indigenously designed, developed and manufactured car or motorcycle. The required industrial ecosystem was simply non-existent.

Though designed to operate across the country except high mountains, Arjun MBT was mainly required to operate in desert regions along our western borders and was termed as "Dessert Ferrari" by an independent team of foreign experts.

Arjun MBT, incorporating the requirements projected weighed about 62 tonnes, comparing well with the state of the art in the Four crew tank category though with lesser (better) ground pressure and high power to weight ratio. Two regiments were inducted. The Army then desired several additional features to be incorporated in Arjun while upwardly upgrading existing ones, including the levels of all the three primary requirements leading to an increase in weight to about 68 tonnes. Accordingly, Arjun Mk1A, a tank ready to meet the most challenging battlefield requirements of the 21st century, was promptly developed, realised and has undergone intensive evaluation by the user.

Meanwhile, during peak Covid-19 pandemic, the recent Chinese aggression in 2020 in the high altitude regions of Bharat-Tibet borders necessitated the need for an ultra light armoured combat vehicle. The Army laid down detailed requirements and mandated airlift capability as one of the essential requirements.

It's noteworthy that nearly the entire regions of past and possible future armed conflicts along the 3488 km long Bharat-Tibet border are situated at 3000 to 5500 meters above mean sea level altitudes and are characterised by extremely difficult terrain. This makes accessibility by road, especially during winter months when the entire region gets snow bound with temperatures dropping to 30 to 50 degree Celsius below zero, besides low atmospheric pressures and oxygen levels, strong winds, snow wizards and frequent avalanches and landslides. Feasibility of airlifting the tank also acts as force multiplier as well as adds to deterrence.

Zorawar Light Tank is a versatile and agile Armoured Combat Vehicle with its fire power, level of protection, mobility as well as surveillance and communication capabilities optimised for the world's most challenging, harsh and the highest altitude battlefields; to boldly go and fight where no tanks have gone and fought before. The expertise gained, the technologies mastered and the R&D cum industrial ecosystem created during the course of development of Arjun MBT, combined with enthusiastic support Army and extraordinary hard work by the Zorawar development team enabled speedy development of Zorawar.

Fire Power

A 105 mm Rifled Bore Gun was chosen as compared to 120 mm gun used for Arjun MBT in order to keep the overall weight of the tank within limits. The gun is considered sufficient in view of the requirements and limitations posed by the mountainous battlefield scenarios under which the tank is required to operate. The use of rifled barrel induces spin to the projectile. A spinning projectile is more stable in its trajectory and hence yields better accuracy and kill probability.

A wider range of gun elevation (-10 to +40 degree) makes fire power of Zorawar highly effective in mountainous regions. The all weather hunter killer Fire Control System with Automatic Target Tracker makes the lethality of Zorawar Light Tank exceptionally high and a nightmare for the enemy in a battlefield. Its combat capabilities are further enhanced by its coaxial 7.62 mm Coaxial Gun while its 12.7 mm gun on Remote Controlled Weapon Station (RCWS) provides defence against aerial and ground threats.

Firing of three kinds of ammunition namely the Fin Stabilised Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot (FSAPDS), High Explosive Squash Head (HESH) and Anti Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) from the gun has been demonstrated so far. Designed to defeat enemy tank's armour by piercing it, FSAPDS rounds are fin stabilised yielding highly flat trajectory, hence excellent accuracy.  This, combined with the extremely high kinetic energy of the high velocity Tungsten alloy penetrator make FSAPDS the most lethal unguided anti tank kinetic energy ammunition, capable of destroying all known tank armour in direct shooting range Zorawar is likely to encounter in high altitude battlefields. HESH ammunition on the other hand generates shockwaves by blast on the surface of the target, leading to fracture of the armour. An ATGM of course is the ultimate weapon being a precision guided munition designed to defeat tank armour. Auto-loader on the other hand ensures uninterrupted firing rate in accordance with design parameters. The Gun Control System is electro-mechanical, leading to lower maintenance and better performance.

Mobility and Agility

Innovative design of Zorawar with its high speed, light weight, high power to weight ratio and low ground pressure combined with Rubber Band Track and amphibious capability make it very agile and extends its reach to most difficult regions of terrain usually considered unreachable by combat vehicles. A very innovatively designed rubber tracks besides being significantly lighter in weight, yield better fuel efficiency, and significant noise and vibration resistance. The Hydrogas Suspense Unit makes the ride smoother and provides better grip on the ground and enhanced stability for the tank. Amphibious capability comes handy in overcoming obstacles like rivers, rivulets and lakes with relative ease. Inertial Navigation System enables the crew to have realtime awareness of their own location independent of external inputs and to find their path.

Survivability

Survivability of the crew and the tank are interrelated and important. Provision of heating and cooling in the tank compartment not only protects the crew from extreme climatic conditions prevalent in the high altitude regions, it also enhances the alertness and overall performance of these soldiers. The provision of surveillance drones takes the level of situational awareness to new heights.

In addition to the primary and secondary armour mentioned in the table, Zorawar is equipped with Laser Warning System (LWS), protection against Nuclear Biological and Chemical (NBC) threats and Integrated Fire Detection and Suppression System (IFDSS). Laser guided munitions being very precise, are extremely serious threats for a tank. They work by homing down to the target that is being shone by a laser designator. LWS works by detecting the incident laser beam and initiating defensive action (eg by generating smoke cover that absorbs/scatters the designating laser beam). IFDSS is microprocessor controlled system that detects any fire or explosion inside the tank and activates the inbuilt automatic fire suppression system in milliseconds domain. Such advanced and effective survivability measures also acts as great self-confidence building measures for the crew.

Thus, the light tank Zorawar, designed to operate in the world's harshest mountainous battlefield conditions is a versatile and highly advanced war fighting platform well equipped with state-of-the-art offensive and protective systems ready to prove itself a game-changer in mountain warfare anywhere in the world. Zorawar therefore offers immense potential for exports in addition to providing winning edge to our own armed forces.

The Zorawar is in its final stages of development trials and is soon going to enter user trial process as a precursor to induction. A Ministry of Defence press statement released on September 13, 2024 announced, "During the field trials conducted in the desert terrain, the Light Tank demonstrated exceptional performance, efficiently meeting all the intended objectives. In the initial phase, the tank's firing performance was rigorously evaluated and it achieved the required accuracy on designated targets".

(The author is former Spokesperson, Defence Research and Development  Organisation, Government of India. Feedback on this article can be sent

to feedback.employmentnews@gmail. com). Views expressed are personal.