![]() An initial batch of 70 systems was supplied from the UK. The Vijayanta still has the original ranging machine gun but, after evaluating several systems, late in 1980 India selected the British GEC-Marconi Radar and Defence Systems, Defence Control Systems Division, SFCS 600 fire-control system for installation in the tank. Some 2,200 Vijayantas have been built in India although some reports have quoted a lower figure of 1,600 production has been phased out. The Indian factory at Avadi, near Madras, was built and the first Vijayanta (the Indian name for the Vickers tank) rolled off the production line in January 1965. Vickers began production at its Elswick works in 1964 and the first production tank was delivered to India in 1965. The first two prototypes of the Vickers MBT were completed in 1963 one was retained in the United Kingdom and the other sent to India. The Vickers proposal was accepted and in August 1961 an agreement was signed between Vickers and the Indian government under which the company would establish a factory in India for the production of the Vickers MBT. In January 1961, a team of defence experts visited Germany and the United Kingdom to examine tank designs that could be produced in India. The use of these Chieftain components in a tank weighing only 37 tonnes improved its reliability and durability. Realising that several countries would not buy such a heavy and expensive tank, Vickers designed a new 37 tonne MBT armed with the Royal Ordnance 105 mm rifled gun from the Centurion and the engine, transmission, brakes, steering and fire-control system of the Chieftain. ![]() The Chieftain MBT (covered in detail in an earlier entry) was designed to meet the requirements of the British Army during the late 1950s.
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