During a recent drill in India, two commanding officers were spotted relaxing inside a pair of armchairs expressly set up for them right behind the turret of a T-90S Bhishma tank.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta wrote that this is not the first time that Indian military men have been seen riding the advanced Russian-designed battle tanks in such a bizarre manner.
Ex #VijayPrahar. The Month long Exercise of #SaptaShaktiCommand concluded on 9 May 2018. Over 25000 soldiers with massive array of modern equipment including tanks, attack helicopters,drones & fighter aircrafts participated in the exercise addressing full spectrum of operations. pic.twitter.com/CdYY0zfQjs
— ADG PI — INDIAN ARMY (@adgpi) 10 мая 2018 г.
India is the main foreign buyer of the T-90 tanks. The first batch of the state-of-the-art fighting vehicles arrived in the country in 2000.
Six years later, the Indian government shelled out $2.5 billion for a license to produce 1,000 T-90 Bhishma tanks.
The first such tanks assembled in India joined the country’s armed forces in 2009.
By 2020 India plans to have up to 2,000 T-90 tanks.
READ MORE: Multi-Billion Deal for Purchase of T-90 Tanks Between India & Russia Gather Pace