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India going ahead with T-90 tanks, reveals MoD booklet

Negotiations for acquiring the T-90s tanks from Russia are in progress.

This was revealed in a booklet brought out by the ministry of defence on the Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat affair.

Accordingly, price negotiations started after the ''in principle'' approval of the Cabinet Committee on Security on December 3, 1998. A Russian delegation came over on January 20, 1999.

The proposal to acquire 310 T-90s ran into controversy after former prime minister H D Deve Gowda expressed reservations.

Defence Minister George Fernandes in a letter to Deve Gowda, which is also contained in the booklet, points out that India's armour against Pakistan has been adversely affected by a series of developments, the latest of which was the acquisition of T-80 tanks by Pakistan from Ukraine.

In his letter, Fernandes also notes that the progress of developing India's MBT Arjun was slow, and as a result it was imperative to look for outside sources.

''The proposals for the acquisition of T-90s tanks have been part of this response. I enclose herewith a statement of the chronological sequence of events of this acquisition process,'' the minister says.

''As you could see, the demonstration of the performance of T-90s was witnessed by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav when he visited Russia in October 1997 and in November 1997, the then principal secretary to the prime minister held a meeting, the minutes of which clearly indicate that a direction was given that ministry of defence should move urgently for acquisition and production of T-90s and finalise the contracts as early as possible,'' the letter continues.

The defence minister also points out that as apprehensions had been expressed about the performance of the tank, extracts from the Jane's Armour and Artillery 1997-98 (18th edition), which give not only the parameters of T-90s but its comparative status with T-72 and T-80, were relevant. He said the write-up confirmed that the T-90 was a further development of the T-72 MBT, which incorporates advanced features in defence aids systems, fire control and kontakt-5 explosive reactive armour system.

He, however, clarified that while the decision was not being based on these published details, his (Deve Gowda's) attention was being drawn to an independent assessment provided on the T-90s.

UNI

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