Vijayanta Was Handed Over - [December 12, 1965] This Day in History

India’s first indigenous military tank ‘Vijayanta’ was handed over to the Indian Army on 12 December 1965. Read more about this incident for the IAS exam

Get the List of First in India in the linked article.

Vijayanta Tank – Background

1. Vijayanta was manufactured by Heavy Vehicles Factory in Avadi near Chennai.
2. The design of this tank was by the Vickers Company of the United Kingdom.
3. In 1961, the Vickers Company accepted the proposal to design a new main battle tank for the Indian Army, called the Vickers Mark I.
4. The company, as per the agreement, was to build the tank prototypes as well as 90 units. It also agreed to build a new production facility at Avadi.
5. In 1963, two prototypes were completed and one was sent to India. In 1965, the production tanks were manufactured at UK and at the Avadi factory.
6. The Indian model made at Avadi was named ‘Vijayanta’meaning victorious.
7. The battle tank is based on the British model Chieftain. Vijayanta uses the Chieftain’s steering, engine, fire control systems and transmission.
8. Although initially UK component were used, increasingly Indian-made components were being used until all the components were manufactured in India.
9. The Vijayanta Main Battle Tank (MBT) found extensive use in the Indo-Pak War of 1971 and in Operation Blue Star.
10. Production was stopped in 1986 and from 1965 till 1986, 2200 tanks were produced. In 1989, bulk production of the spare parts of the MBT was stopped.
11. The Vijayanta MBT was phased out by the army by the year 2008.
12. Various upgraded versions were manufactured during the years of its service like Vijayanta Mark 1A, Vijayanta Mark 1B, Vijayanta Mark 1C and Vijayanta Mark 2.
13. There have also been variants of the Vijayanta with certain variations to the original one. Example: Catapult SPA, Kartik AVLB, Vijayanta ARV, etc.
14. The Vijayanta MBT’s specifications:
    • Weight: 39000 kg
    • Length: 9.788 m
    • Width: 3.168 m
    • Height: 2.711 m
    • Crew: 4
    • Engine: Leyland L60 Diesel; 399 kW
    • Armour: 80 mm steel
    • Main armament: 4.13 inch (105mm) gun; 44 rounds
    • Secondary armaments: 0.3 inch (7.62mm) coaxial machine gun; 0.5 inch (12.7mm) ranging coaxial machine gun; 0.3 inch (7.62mm) machine gun in the commander’s cupola
    • Also has 6 pairs of smoke grenade launchers
    • Speed: 50 kmph
    • Operational range: 530 km

Also read about various other firsts in India:

Also on this day
1872: Birth of Balakrishna Shivram Moonje, freedom fighter and leader of the Hindu Mahasabha.
1905: Birth of Mulk Raj Anand, one of the first English writers of Indian origin.
1950: Birth of superstar actor Rajinikanth.
1963: Kenya attained independence from Britain.

See previous ‘This Day in History’ here.

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