New Delhi: Pakistan has drawn up an ambitious plan to procure close to 600 battle tanks including T-90 tanks from Russia, primarily to bolster its military might along the border with India, intelligence sources said Sunday.
Most of the tanks Pakistan was procuring will be able to hit targets at a range of 3 to 4 km, the sources told reporters. Apart from battle tanks, Pakistan Army is procuring 245 150mm SP Mike-10 guns from Italy out of which it has already received 120 guns, they said.
The sources said Pakistan was eyeing to buy from Russia a batch of T-90 battle tanks-the mainstays of the armoured regiments of the Indian Army – and that the move reflects Islamabad’s intent to forge a deeper defence engagement with Moscow. Russia has been India’s largest and most trusted defence supplier post Independence.
The sources said as part of the mega plan to significantly revamp its armoured fleet by 2025, Pakistan has decided to procure 360 battle tanks globally besides producing 220 tanks indigenously with help from its close ally China.
Pakistan Army’s move to enhance its armoured corps comes at a time when the Line of Actual control in Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed growing hostilities in the last one year. The Indian Army has been strongly retaliating to every unprovoked firing by Pakistani side.
But, when the Indian Army is focused on counter-terror operations, the Pakistan Army was fast reducing its gap with Indian forces in fighting a conventional war, sources said.
The Indian Army had drawn up a mega plan to modernise its infantry and armoured corps.
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