The T‑90 Bhishma has long been the backbone of the Indian Army’s armoured corps, but the rise of drone warfare is forcing a fundamental rethink of how the tank fights and survives, TOI reported.

The proliferation of inexpensive FPV drones and precision‑guided weapons, as seen in Ukraine, has reshaped the battlefield and compelled India to pursue new technologies to protect its most important main battle tank.

The T‑90 Bhishma forms the backbone of India’s armoured corps, with more than 1,000 tanks in service. Originally acquired from Russia under a 2001 agreement, the fleet has increasingly been produced domestically through technology transfer.

In May 2026, the Heavy Vehicles Factory in Avadi delivered the 1,000th indigenously manufactured T‑90 Bhishma to the Army, marking a major milestone in India’s defence industrial base.

Designed for high‑intensity conventional warfare, the 46.5‑tonne tank is powered by an Indian‑built 1,000‑horsepower V‑92S2 diesel engine. This enables speeds of up to 60 km/h while maintaining mobility across deserts, plains and semi‑mountainous terrain. Its primary weapon is a 125 mm 2A46M smoothbore gun capable of firing armour‑piercing, high‑explosive anti‑tank and fragmentation rounds. 

It is also equipped with a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun and a 12.7 mm anti‑aircraft machine gun. An autoloader allows the tank to operate with a three‑member crew comprising the commander, gunner and driver.

While the T‑90’s firepower remains formidable, military planners increasingly view survivability as the greater challenge. The tank is protected by composite armour and Kontakt‑5 Explosive Reactive Armour, along with nuclear, biological and chemical protection systems. However, recent conflicts—particularly the Russia‑Ukraine war—have demonstrated that armour alone offers limited protection against FPV drones and loitering munitions that strike vulnerable areas such as the turret roof, engine deck and external sensors.

Unlike several newer Western and Israeli tanks, the Indian Army’s T‑90 fleet does not currently field a hard‑kill Active Protection System capable of intercepting incoming anti‑tank guided missiles, rocket‑propelled grenades or attack drones before they hit the vehicle.

Recognising the evolving threat, the Army issued a Request for Information in February 2025 for a modular indigenous APS for its T‑90 fleet. The proposed system is expected to combine soft‑kill measures—including laser warning receivers, electronic jammers and smoke grenade launchers—with hard‑kill interceptors that destroy incoming threats before impact.

The Army has also specified that the system should include counter‑unmanned aircraft system capabilities to defeat FPV drones, loitering munitions and top‑attack weapons, while integrating seamlessly with the existing tank and preferably being manufactured in India.

Alongside the Army’s procurement efforts, the Defence Research and Development Organisation is developing an indigenous hard‑kill APS. First showcased at Aero India 2025, the system features four X‑band radar panels providing 360‑degree coverage and turret‑mounted interceptors designed to neutralise incoming anti‑tank threats.

The T‑90 itself is also undergoing broader upgrades. The latest T‑90 Bhishma Mk III unveiled by the Heavy Vehicles Factory incorporates several indigenous improvements, including a mid‑wave thermal imaging commander sight with an 8 km detection range developed by DRDO and Bharat Electronics Limited, an automatic target tracker and a digital ballistic computer derived from the Arjun main battle tank to improve first‑round hit probability.

The Defence Acquisition Council has also approved the procurement of more powerful 1,350‑horsepower engines to improve mobility, particularly in high‑altitude regions where the current 1,000‑horsepower engine experiences reduced performance.

Despite the changing character of warfare, the T‑90 Bhishma remains one of the Indian Army’s most capable and battle‑proven tanks.

But as drones become an increasingly dominant feature of modern battlefields, its future effectiveness will depend not only on the power of its gun or the thickness of its armour, but on its ability to detect, disrupt and destroy threats before they reach the vehicle.

The integration of APS and counter‑drone technologies will therefore be decisive in ensuring the Bhishma’s survivability and relevance in the decades ahead.

Agencies