Engaged in a stand-off with the Chinese Army for over five months now, tank commanders of the Indian Army strongly feel that the Chinese light tanks won’t be able to survive in case there is an armoured battle between them and the formidable T-90 Bhismas of the Indian Army in the world’s highest tank battlefields in Eastern Ladakh and the Tibetan plateau. India has deployed tanks in large numbers to counter the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s aggressive manoeuvres along the Line of Actual Control where they have brought in their tanks and armoured personnel carriers and transgressed at multiple points there.
“I believe that in case there is a battle involving the tanks during the present situation and they deploy there light tanks, I can assure you that it won’t survive against our T-90s and the T-72s,” said a tank commander said on the condition of anonymity as he was not officially authorised to talk to the media.
The official was talking about the recent reports which suggested that the Chinese have deployed their light tanks opposite the Indian territory in Eastern Ladakh from the Sub-sector North to the southernmost parts of Ladakh including the Chumar-Demchok area. The Chinese have recently deployed and tested a light tank named T-15 and reports have been emanating in the Chinese media that the light tanks would be more suitable for operations in the tank territory in the valleys between high mountains in that region. Another tank commander said the Indian T-90 and the T-72 along with the BMP-2 Infantry Combat Vehicles can operate in temperature ranges between 50 degrees to minus 40 degrees and they are deployable in all possible terrains and altitudes in the world.
