Tankopedia
Late Cold WarMBTMain Battle TankIndia

Vijayanta

In service 1965 - 2008

India's first indigenously manufactured tank, a licence-built Vickers MBT whose name means "victorious", fielded in time for the 1971 war.

Built byHeavy Vehicles Factory, Avadi

Vijayanta
Vijayanta, Yoddhasthal exhibition, Indian Army, Bhopal — Swapnil Karambelkar, via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Development history

India set up the Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi specifically to build the Vickers MBT under licence, with the first Indian-assembled vehicle completed in 1965 and full local manufacture following. Roughly 2,200 were built over two decades, progressively Indianised down to the gun and ammunition. Vijayantas fought Pakistani armour in the 1971 war, notably in the Shakargarh sector, and remained India's numerical mainstay until T-72s and then the Arjun arrived. Later upgrade programmes added a new fire-control system and improved armour to part of the fleet. The last were retired in 2008, and examples are preserved at the Cavalry Tank Museum in Ahmednagar.

Variants

One canonical record, 3 recorded variants.

  1. Vijayanta (early)

    1965

    First Avadi-built vehicles, largely to British specification.

  2. Vijayanta (Indianised)

    1970s

    Indian-built gun, ammunition and subsystems.

  3. Vijayanta upgrade

    1980s

    New fire-control system, passive night vision and added armour on part of the fleet.

Notable actions

  • Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
  • Battle of Basantar