Indian Army's 'Bhishma' tanks roll down Rajpath in Delhi

From the archive record

Indian Army's Bhishma tanks roll down Rajpath during Republic Day celebrations in Delhi. The T-90M Bhishma (named for the mythical warrior in the Mahabharata) is a vehicle tailored for Indian service, improving upon the T-90S, and developed with assistance from Russia and France. The tanks are equipped with the French Thales-built Catherine-FC thermal sights, and utilises Russian Kontakt-5 K-5 explosive reactive armoured plates. and Kontakt-5 ERA in addition to the primary armor which consists of laminated plates and ceramic layers with high tensile properties. The new welded turrets first developed for the Indian T-90S Bhishma have more advanced armour protection than the early cast turrets. In several tests conducted in front of an Indian delegation, the latest foreign M829A2/KEW-A2 APFS