Rapid Deployment Effort: Indian Army Acquires 47 T-72 Bridge-Laying Tanks

THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE (MoD) has signed a address the Heavy Vehicles Manufacturing facility, which is an part of Armoured Automobile Nigam Restricted, to form 47 T-72 Bridge-Laying Tanks (BLTs) for the Indian Military. The total trace of the contract is ₹1,560.52 crore.

The settlement modified into signed by senior officials of the Ministry of Defence and Heavy Vehicles Manufacturing facility/Armoured Automobile Nigam Restricted, in New Delhi, on Tuesday (January 21, 2025), in the presence of Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, as reported by the Press Recordsdata Bureau (PIB), New Delhi.

The BLT is a wanted machine extinct by the mechanized forces to rapidly field up bridges all via both offensive and defensive operations. It enables tanks and armoured autos to overcome barriers by offering constructed-in bridge-laying lend a hand, thus bettering battlefield mobility and strengthening attack capabilities.

The Bridging Machine entails:

• A Launching Mechanism
• Bridge Structure
• Hydraulic Programs
• Auxiliary Parts, and
• Electronic Preserve watch over Machine

The T-72 BLT is geared up with a 20-metre-prolonged prefabricated steel bridge that is also rapidly deployed over barriers. This enables diversified styles of autos, alongside with heavy armoured autos (A autos) and lighter autos, a lot like autos and jeeps (B autos), to wicked over barriers with out problems.

A BLT helps tanks plod ahead by rapidly overcoming such pure barriers as rivers or ditches, as successfully as man-made barriers designed to discontinuance tanks. It enables advancing tank objects to wicked these hurdles with out problems, guaranteeing soft motion all via missions. The tank can rapidly lay down its bridge and, then, retrieve it from the diversified aspect once the whole tanks own safely crossed over.

The BLT is also constructed on tanks from both Western and Japanese Europe. It may per chance deploy two styles of bridges:

1. A 20-metre ‘scissors’ bridge that can tackle autos weighing as a lot as 60 heaps (is named MLC 60, the build MLC stands for Protection pressure Load Classification)
2. A 22-metre ‘scissors’ bridge that also can lend a hand autos weighing as a lot as 70 heaps (MLC 70)

In straightforward terms, these classifications reward essentially the most weight that the bridge can safely raise, allowing heavy defense pressure autos, alongside with tanks, to wicked over with out any disorders.

The duration of time, ‘scissors bridge’, refers to the abnormal folding mechanism of the bridge, which resembles the hole of a pair of scissors. When no longer in advise, the bridge remains folded on top of the tank, making it easy to transport. As soon as the tank reaches a drawback, the bridge unfolds into plot, constructing a sturdy pathway for autos to wicked over. This make enables for snappy deployment and retrieval, making it highly efficient in defense pressure operations.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Weight: 49 T
• Crew: 2
• Total Length: 11.36 m
• Total High: 3.8 m
• Total Width: 4.0 m
• Max. Road Jog: 60 kph
• Engine Energy: 780 HP
• Energy-to-Weight Ratio: 16.12 HP/T
• Bridge form: Scissors Originate
• Shallow Fording (Medium Fording with Snorkel): 1.8 m
• Vertical Obstacle: 0.76 m
• Trench Crossing: 2.4 m
• Gradient: 25°
• Anti-Plane Machine Gun: 12.7 mm

The vehicle has a in point of fact restricted quite quite a lot of of weapons on board. It mainly carries deepest weapons of the crew, a machine gun for defence against air threats and a smoke-launcher to plot a maintaining smoke hide. Additionally, it will even be geared up with a KMT-6 mine plough on the entrance, which is extinct to determined landmines and produce the mosey exact for motion.

(The creator of this article is an award-winning Science Creator and a Defence, Aerospace & Political Analyst based in Bengaluru. He's moreover Director of ADD Engineering Parts, India, Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany. You potentially can reach him at: [email protected])