War tank requirement increases for Indian Army: Ordnance Factory GM

Saying that they were manufacturing 120 BMP vehicles a year, he said the Ordnance Factory general manager Ratna Prasad was capable of manufacturing up to 155 vehicles per year.

Sangareddy: Yeddumailaram Ordnance Factory general manager Ratna Prasad said the requirement of army tanks for the Indian Army had increased in recent years. Saying that they were manufacturing 120 BMP (amphibious infantry fighting tank developed with Russian technology) vehicles a year, he said the Ordnance Factory was capable of manufacturing up to 155 vehicles per year to meet the increased requirement.

The Ordnance Factory carried out the mandatory floating trials for amphibious infantry combat vehicles (ICVs) (BMP variants), which they were manufacturing in their unit here, at the Malkapur minor irrigation tank close to Sangareddy town. Two war tanks were carried from the Ordnance Factory to the water body on a trailer truck on Thursday morning for the tests.

Speaking on the occasion, Ratna Prasad said the tanks would need to travel for two to three kilometres at a speed of 8 kmph on water which they did successfully. The vehicles could go at 30 kmph on land. Since the Ordnance Factory was founded in 1984, over 2,500 war tanks were manufactured at the Yeddumailaram unit, rolling out the first vehicle in 1986. While the vehicle’s weight was put at 14 tonnes, it could carry 10 persons on it.

Joint General Manager Sarjith Reddy said the tanks would be used primarily for carrying out the troops to the warfront though they were mounted with guns. The Ordnance Factory Yeddumailaram has designed, developed and manufactured MPVs (mine-protected vehicles) and Closed Ranged Naval Guns (CRNs) which could be mounted on ships. However, the manufacturing of MPVs and CRNs were shifted to the Ordnance Factory Jabalpur a few years ago as the load of work increased here.