Armour vs altitude: India’s light tank dilemma along China border

Army veterans say the Zorawar was needed ‘the day before yesterday’ Heavier armour threatens to delay its deployment

India’s new high-altitude combat tank was designed to go where its heavier armoured fighting vehicles cannot: the thin mountain air, narrow roads and small bridges along its disputed border with China.

In its base configuration, the Zorawar weighs some 25 tonnes – light enough to be flown all the way to the Line of Actual Control – but a push to make it strong enough to withstand high-calibre autocannon fire could add an extra seven tonnes to that loadout.

Reports of renewed stand-offs between Indian and Chinese troops at the border, including one carried by The Hindu newspaper on October 23, have injected fresh urgency into the debate surrounding how much the tank should weigh.

During previous confrontations, India airlifted its older, Russian-origin T-72s and T-90s, which weigh between 45 and 50 tonnes each, to the border territory of Ladakh, where they have faced off against China’s lighter Type 15, weighing 33–36 tonnes.