Article Posted on : - May 01, 2009

Indian Army. A File Photo

NEW DELHI (PTI): The Army's Armoured Corps are celebrating its 71st Raising Day today, to mark the conversion of Scindia Horse Cavalry into an armoured unit operating tanks instead of horses on this day in 1938.

An Army spokesperson here said the Indian Army first used the Vickers light tanks and Chevrolet armoured cars, but later switched to the Sherman M4 American tanks in 1943.

Post-independence, the Army took up an expansion and modernisation plan for the Armoured Corps with the induction of Centurion Mk7 and AMX-13 light tanks, he said.

Since then, the Armoured Corps has operated Vijayanta tanks, the Russian T-54s, T-55s, and T-72 main battle tanks, which has been the workhorse of the Corps for the past three decades.

"The Armoured Corps gave a stunning performance in the Indo-Pak war of 1965 by decimating the Pakistani Patton tanks and in the 1971 Bangladesh liberation war in both the eastern and western fronts," the spokesperson said.

Currently, the corps operates the Russian T-90s and is in the process of inducting the indigenous Arjun main battle tank.

It has also started working on futuristic tanks for use by armoured units beyond 2020.