Article Posted on : - Feb 17, 2010

NEW DELHI (PTI): US defence major Raytheon and Indian private player Larsen and Toubro (L&T) announced on Tuesday that they were teaming up to submit a proposal this month to upgrade Indian's Army's vintage T-72 battle tanks.

The tie-up was announced on the second day of the four-day DefExpo held here since Monday.

Under the proposal, Raytheon, which has already provided 20,000 thermal sights in 15 countries, is set to arrange infrared imaging sights and gadgets which would greatly improve target accuracy and increase overall system lethality on the battlefield for the Indian Army's T-72 tank regiments.

Army has in operation about 1,600 T-72 tanks.

"Through collaboration with L&T on this important proposal for the Indian Army, we have confirmed the very complementary capabilities leveraged across our companies," said Raytheon Network Centric Systems India Operations head Fritz Treyz.

"Together, we are exploring other opportunities to provide defense solutions to meet growing demands in India and the global marketplace," he added in a statement.

L&T would provide fire control system and sensors, and would accomplish the final integration of all the upgraded systems along with the customer support in India. It has expertise in development of fire control across multiple weapon systems on land, naval and air defence applications.

"L&T is leading the T-72 tank upgrade programme. The two companies have a combination to deliver," the company's Senior Executive Vice President M V Kotwal said, adding that the T-72 upgrade programme would lead to new avenues in Indian and global defence markets for both the partners.