Why India needs a second tank overhaul facility
The Indian Army operates Soviet-origin T-72 Ajeya tanks and Russian-designed T-90 Bhishma main battle tanks. Keeping these armoured vehicles operational requires more than routine maintenance, particularly as individual tanks accumulate years of service. Avadi has played a central role in India's tank manufacturing programme. In 2001, a contract was signed for the licensed production of 1,000 T-90 tanks at the Heavy Vehicles Factory, following an earlier agreement to procure 310 tanks that included technology transfer.Russian specialists helped establish production processes, while Indian engineers travelled to Russia for training. The new project at Jabalpur builds on this industrial experience but presents a different challenge: recreating the specialised equipment and technical procedures needed to take tanks apart and restore them to operational condition.
VFJ, which already manufactures specialised military vehicles, secured the tank overhaul assignment after successfully completing a pilot project involving two T-72 tanks. Both VFJ and HVF operate under Armoured Vehicles Nigam Limited (AVNL), a defence public sector undertaking.
How engineers are working with decades-old Russian drawings
The challenge extends beyond translating documents from Russian into a language engineers can use. The factory must also understand the purpose of specialised fixtures, machinery and equipment designed decades ago, and determine how these can be used to dismantle and reassemble complex armoured vehicles.Harsh Bhatnagar, deputy general manager at VFJ, said engineers had conducted detailed studies of the fixtures, machinery, equipment and facility layouts required for the project. The teams are combining the available Soviet-era documentation with engineering assessments to establish the overhaul facility. Where drawings cannot be found, Indian engineers are developing indigenous designs rather than depending entirely on the original blueprints.
Training is another major part of the effort. Teams from different engineering disciplines have been sent to Avadi to learn the required processes, while specialists from both factories are working together to prepare the Jabalpur facility. Bhatnagar said the work was complex and time-consuming but was progressing according to the timelines laid out in the detailed project report.
What happens when a battle tank undergoes a complete overhaul?
An overhaul is considerably more extensive than the regular servicing of a tank. Instead of addressing an individual fault or replacing a worn component, engineers dismantle the vehicle, examine its systems, repair or replace damaged parts, and then reassemble and test it. The process can take around four months for each tank.VFJ estimates that approximately 650 trained personnel will be required when the overhaul operation is running at full capacity.
₹462 crore project targets 80 tank overhauls annually
The Jabalpur project has an estimated cost of ₹462 crore. Its annual target of 80 tanks from April 2028 will add another overhaul location to the Army's maintenance infrastructure. Developing the facility involves more than setting up machinery. Engineers must establish the necessary technical procedures, reproduce or redesign specialised fixtures, train workers and organise the factory layout to handle the different stages of a complete overhaul.Decoding nearly 70% of the Soviet-era drawings marks a significant step towards that goal, although the remaining design work and the development of the facility still need to be completed.
For India, the effort is also an exercise in preserving and rebuilding technical expertise around military equipment originally developed in the Soviet era. By combining the experience at Avadi with indigenous engineering at Jabalpur, the country is seeking to establish a broader domestic capability to overhaul its existing tank fleet.