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India Demonstrates Zorawar Light Tank Firing Nag Mk II ATGM in Breakthrough Test.
On 17 October 2025, India’s indigenous Zorawar light tank successfully fired the Nag Mk II anti-tank guided missile in top-attack mode, meeting range and accuracy targets. This pairing compresses the sensor-to-shooter timeline for forward mountain forces and strengthens domestic design-to-production lines through DRDO and Larsen & Toubro (Make-I), improving deployable precision-strike options at high altitude.
On 17 October 2025, India marked a major step in light-armor modernization by successfully firing the Nag Mk II anti-tank guided missile from the Zorawar light tank in top-attack mode with full accuracy. As reported by the Indian MoD, the trial, shaped by post-Galwan requirements along the Line of Actual Control, pairs a sub-25-ton, mountain-optimized chassis with a fire-and-forget, long-range strike option for high-altitude combat. Operationally, it shortens the sensor-to-shooter timeline for forward units, while industrially, it consolidates DRDO’s design lead and leverages Larsen & Toubro’s domestic manufacturing under the Make-I route. The result is a deployable, precision-capable system built for mobility and endurance in terrain where both are rare.
India advanced its light-armor modernization by successfully firing the Nag Mk II ATGM from Zorawar in top-attack mode with full accuracy and maneuver performance (Picture source: Indian MoD)
The Zorawar platform is built around the John Cockerill 3000-series 3105 turret carrying a high-pressure 105 mm gun with stabilized day-night sights, giving the crew immediate direct-fire options against armor and fortified points. The new layer is the turret-integrated Nag Mk II, a third-generation, all-weather, fire-and-forget ATGM with a top-attack terminal profile and an estimated 7–10 km engagement envelope, allowing crews to prosecute targets from defilade and reverse slopes without prolonged exposure. This mix of instantaneous gun effects and autonomous, standoff guided fires is unusual in a vehicle under 25 tonnes and is tailored to the broken relief and limited lines of sight typical of high-altitude valleys and plateaus.
From requirement to firing trials, the program has been compressed by design. Conceived after 2020, green-lit in 2022, and brought to full-profile firings in roughly two years, Zorawar’s prototypes pair a Cummins VTA903E-T760 diesel (~760 hp) with a RENK HMPT-800 transmission, yielding approximately 30 hp per tonne at a 25-ton combat weight. That automotive package, together with hydropneumatic suspension and a modular architecture, underpins steep-grade climbing, riverine mobility, and rapid repositioning that heavier T-72/T-90 classes cannot consistently match at altitude. A domestic powerpack at higher output has been discussed for later lots. Still, the current prototype configuration reflects a pragmatic balance between maturity and performance as the system moves through climatic, altitude, and user evaluations toward the 2027 induction window.
Zorawar’s strengths become clearer when set against peer light tanks that employ anti-tank missiles. China’s Type 15 uses a 105 mm gun with gun-launched ATGMs, optimized for its own plateau operations; Indonesia’s Kaplan MT/Harimau couples the Cockerill 105 mm with the Falarick 105 gun-launched missile. Gun-launched solutions preserve ammunition commonality but usually demand sustained line-of-sight and can keep the firing unit exposed during guidance. Zorawar’s approach with Nag Mk II emphasizes an autonomous seeker and top-attack geometry, reducing exposure time and exploiting vertical relief for terminal effects. It also anchors missile sustainment in India’s own industrial base, which improves upgrade cadence and mitigates external supply risk as seeker technologies and countermeasures evolve.
The strategic implications are multi-layered. Geopolitically, a domestically designed and manufactured light-tank force with organic standoff anti-armor fire complicates adversary planning across the LAC and signals credible, locally supported staying power. Geostrategically, a sub-25-ton platform able to disperse, climb, ford, and re-aggregate at speed creates dilemmas for an opponent dependent on heavier formations and more brittle logistics at altitude. Militarily, pairing a high-pressure 105 mm gun with a top-attack, fire-and-forget ATGM builds a layered kill web that integrates cleanly with UAV spotting, passive sensors, and long-range fires, tightening the decision cycle for combined-arms teams in terrain that punishes slow maneuver.
On program economics and contracting, the Indian MoD's approved case covers roughly 354 light tanks, with 59 vehicles in the initial lot for the DRDO–L&T line and the balance planned for competitive procurement as production scales. The dominant cost drivers will be the sighting and fire-control suite, environmental hardening for high-altitude reliability, and the ATGM round itself, particularly its seeker and top-attack package. Unit costs are expected to benefit from phased indigenization of sub-assemblies and the learning curve as the line transitions from pilot to rate production. Discussions around localizing turret work and expanding domestic content in propulsion and survivability kits indicate a clear path to reducing foreign-exchange exposure over successive batches.
India’s decision to pair Zorawar with Nag Mk II has moved light armor from a mobility-only solution to a mobility-plus-precision instrument designed for one of the toughest theatres on earth. By validating top-attack, fire-and-forget missile fires from a light, mountain-optimized chassis, the program has set the conditions for a 2027 fielding that can alter the deterrence balance along the northern frontier, shorten the time from detection to effects, and keep sustainment within national control. If upcoming user trials sustain the demonstrated performance, the Army will gain a fast, resilient, locally supported tool that can move where heavier platforms cannot and deliver the standoff effects that modern armored warfare now demands.
Written by Teoman S. Nicanci – Defense Analyst, Army Recognition Group
Teoman S. Nicanci holds degrees in Political Science, Comparative and International Politics, and International Relations and Diplomacy from leading Belgian universities, with research focused on Russian strategic behavior, defense technology, and modern warfare. He is a defense analyst at Army Recognition, specializing in the global defense industry, military armament, and emerging defense technologies.