RBT's Defense Blog

Zorawar Light Tank Zorawar is an Indian light tank named after Zorawar Singh Kahluria, the Dogra General who conquered Ladakh and raided Tibet in 1841 to reach Kailash Mansarovar. The tank is a cross between an armored fighting vehicle and an Indian light tank, with a high power-to-weight ratio and substantial firepower, protection, surveillance, and communication capabilities. It was designed to provide Indian Army with the versatility to execute operations in varying terrain against diverse threats and equipment profiles of its adversaries. Its requirement was felt after the 2020-2022 India-China skirmishes. As it happens in the extremely high altitudes of Ladakh, it is very difficult to operate T-72s and T-90s, let alone Arjun Mk1/Mk1A/Mk2. When the Indian Army found out, that the Chinese had deployed the Type 15 light tank, which gave them a significant advantage over what the Indian Army was fielding at the extreme heights of Galwan valley. Indian Army wanted to operate light

Bhutan PM Tsering has made a statement in Germany as per which China has equal rights to decide on the future of the Doklam Plateau tri-junction of India, Bhutan, and China-occupied Tibet. This is a statement that has sent shockwaves across the power corridors of New Delhi. It is being said Bhutan has decided to give up its claim on the Doklam plateau, in return for China giving up its claim on another area up in the north of the country. 6 years after Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed in Doklam, the Bhutanese PM saying Beijing has an 'equal say in finding a resolution to the dispute marks a significant shift in Bhutan's stand in an ongoing dispute. India believes the high-altitude plateau has been illegally occupied by China. This few months after officials of Bhutan and China met in Kunming, China, to discuss a 'three-step roadmap' to settle border disputes. After this, it's time for India to decide on permanently letting go of Bhutan or assimilating it into its

The Indian Army currently operates five nos of K9 Vajra T 155mm /52 caliber Self-Propelled Howitzer (SPH) regiments. Each regiment is equipped with 18 guns and two reserve units totaling 100 guns. These guns were acquired by the Army under the initial contract signed with a joint venture of South Korean defense company Hanwha Defense and L&T in May 2017. The contract to deliver 100 K-9 Vajra T SPH worth Rs 4,500 crore was signed for delivery to the army by 2022. L&T which built these SPH at the Hazira, Gujarat plant delivered them before time with Indian Army receiving the 100th cannon in February 2021. The guns were acquired ostensibly for use in Punjab’s plains and Rajasthan’s semi-desert terrain along the Pakistan-India international border. Impressed by the performance talks were on to procure 40 more of such SPH for the Indian Army. what happened to that contract no one knows for sure. In the meantime, a skirmish with China started along the LAC in eastern Ladakh and

It seems HAL missed a trick or 2 by not going in for Do 328, Do 428 and Do 728 family after going in for Do 228. HAL to date has produced more than 125 Do 228s and as now developed H 228 which is the civilian transport-certified version of the 19-seater Do 228. Logically and ideally speaking HAL should have gone in for the follow on Do 328, Do 428, and Do 728 family. That would have allowed HAL to master and manufacture 30-, 40-, and 60-, 70-seater aircraft by now for use in the civil aviation market. It would have allowed people across India access to low-cost airline flights on low-cost aircraft. I won’t go into Do 228 because it is now well known but talk more about the other Dornier aircraft.   Do 228 Do 328 Do 328 is a stretched version of Do 228. First built by Dornier, then Fairchild-Dornier, and now Sierra Nevada Corporation. If HAL had gone for licensed production of Do 328 which is still in production, not only the India

The original plan of the Indian Navy was always to operate 4 aircraft carriers. The requirement formulated was always to go for 4 fleet carriers and 2 light carriers (to be given up when 2 fleet carriers were acquired). This requirement was formulated after independence in 1947 after India ceased to be the Royal Indian Navy (RIN). Even the names of 4 aircraft carriers were decided by the Indian Navy (IN). Also, the requ irement for ship-based and shore-based strike aircraft was stated at 128. The following are the names of 4 aircraft carriers that the Indian Navy wanted to own under 15-year modernization plan, these are:- 1. Vindhya 2. Satpura 3. Gauri Shankar 4. Vikrant A few m onths back the new INS Vikrant was commissioned into the Indian Navy. As with the prevalent practice, the Indian Navy named its new aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, thus bringing back what was lost when the original INS Vikrant was decommissioned in 1997. Now everyone is talking about whether the Indian Navy shoul

ALH Dhruv MkIII Successfully Saved by EFS Some  10 days ago ALH Dhruv MkIII operated by the Indian Navy was successfully ditched in the waters of the Arabian Sea thanks to the skills and timely action of the pilot that saved a lot of lives and the precious machine as well after it lost power. A couple of days later the rotary wing aircraft was successfully recovered and saved thanks to an Emergency Flotation System (EFS). So what is an Emergency Flotation System (EFS)?'  Emergency Flotation Systems (EFS)  Emergency Flotation (EFS)   are emergency systems installed on commercial and military rotary wing a ircraft that help to prevent the airframe from sinking in water in the event of a crash landing on water. The EFS is packed within spaces inside the airframe or as externally mounted packs on the aircraft. The floats are inflated using gas stored in pressurized cylinders carried on board the aircraft.  In the case of helicopters, upon hard landings, the lower plexiglass bubbles i

History It’s been over 380 days since Russia attacked Ukraine. Many people are still confused as to why did Russia attack Ukraine in 2022 after capturing Crimea in 2014 and after declaring Luhansk and Donetsk as independent countries in 2022; just a few days before the attack on Ukraine commenced. There are several questions in people’s minds as to why 2 Eastern Slavic countries are fighting each other; why does Russia want to demilitarise Ukraine and be always neutral The answer lies in the breakup of the USSR / Soviet Union and the things that Ukraine has done ever since. After the breakup of the Soviet Union when the smaller former soviet states became independent nations, they inherited soviet military hardware, military hardware manufacturing units, nuclear weapons, nuclear delivery systems, and a lot more. All these were initially claimed by Russia, as the rightful heir to the Soviet Union. But then reality dawned in, and Russia decided to let the former soviet states keep the mi