The Indian Army is in the hunt for 1,400 uncooled thermal imager driver's night sights (DNS) with fusion technology for its new T-90 tanks that will allow the tank to be fight and move at night.
The army will probably source the DNS' from foreign suppliers since there is no Indian company that can produce the DNS the army wants to purchase even in collaboration with a foreign firm. It plans to have these new DNS' replace the existing Made in India image intensifier sights over the next five years.
The army's request for proposal specifies the DNS as a form-fit replacement for the existing Image Intensifier Sights currently used in T-90 tanks.
The new DNS "should facilitate driving during pitch dark nights with no ambient light. The T-90 tank driver should be able to clearly view the area in-front with adequate depth perception while driving over undulating terrain with the help of an uncooled thermal imaging sight."
Some 80 percent of Pakistan's tanks have a DNS while 100 percent of China's tanks sport this feature. Only half of India's tanks have a DNS.
One Indian defense analyst said the new night sights will considerably improve the night fighting capability of Indian tanks by providing the ability to maneuver on the battle field under pitch dark conditions.
In November, the Indian government has approved a request by the army for the purchase of 464 T-90 main battle tanks from Russia at a cost of more than $2.1 billion. The T-90 is the premier battle tank of the Indian Army, which plans to have over 2,000 of these machines by 2020.
The tanks will mostly be manufactured at India's Ordnance Factory Boards, which also produced other Russian tanks such as the T-72. The T-90, currently the most modern tank in the Russian Ground Forces, will replace the Indian Army's ageing fleet of T-72s.
The Army already plans to deploy some 1,650 T-90M and T-90S MBTs in most of its 97 armored regiments. Of this total, some 1,300 will be T-90Ms.
It also has 350 T-90MS tanks deployed along the Line of Actual Control with China. In addition, the army operates some 120 Arjun MK-1 MBTs, a domestically produced tank much heavier than the T-90.
The Army currently has 13 regiments operating both the T-90M and T-90S, a number that will increase to 21 regiments by 2020. One regiment consists of 62 tanks.