Vijayanta

The Vijayanta, meaning Victorious, was a main battle tank built in India under licence from the Vickers Mk.1 design and was the first indigenous tank of the Indian Army. The first prototype was completed in 1963 and the tank entered service on 29 December 1965. The first 90 vehicles were built by Vickers in the United Kingdom, after which production moved to the Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi and continued until 1983, with 2,200 built. The Indian Army planned to phase it out by 2008, the repowering plan was shelved in 1997, and the T-72M1 supplemented it. Upgrades included fire-control improvements in Marks 1A and 1B and the Bison project, and hulls were converted to self-propelled guns or used as static artillery after retirement.