43 Armoured Regiment is an armoured regiment of the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

Formation

43 Armoured Regiment was raised on 1 February 1981 at

Ahmednagar Ahmednagar, officially Ahilyanagar, is a city in, and the headquarters of, the Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. Ahmednagar has several dozen buildings and sites from the Nizam Shahi period. Ahmednagar Fort, once considered almost impre ...

under the command of Lt Col (later Lt Gen) BM Kapur based on a ‘mixed class composition’ and equipped with

Vijayanta The ''Vijayanta'' () was a main battle tank built in India based on a licensed design of the Vickers Mk.1. The Vijayanta was the first indigenous tank of the Indian Army. The prototype was completed in 1963 and the tank entered service on Decem ...

tanks. The Regiment is a part of 140 Armoured Brigade, 12 Infantry Division, XII Corps.

History

The Regiment after its formation has served in

Kapurthala Kapurthala () is a city in Punjab state of India. It is the administrative headquarters of Kapurthala District. It was the capital of the Kapurthala State, a princely state in British India. The aesthetic mix of the city with its prominent b ...

, Sri Ganganagar, Ratnuchak,

Pathankot Pathankot () is a city and the district headquarters of the Pathankot district in Punjab, India. Pathankot is the sixth most populous city of Punjab, after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Bathinda. Its local government is a municipal ...

, Lalgarh Jattan,

Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the States and territories of India, state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. It is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Fo ...

and

Jaisalmer Jaisalmer , nicknamed ''The Golden city'', is a city in the north-western Indian state of Rajasthan, located west of the state capital Jaipur, in the heart of the Thar Desert. It serves as the administrative headquarters of Jaisalmer district ...

. The Regiment was presented the ‘ President’s Standards’ at

in 2016 by General Dalbir Singh, Chief of the Army Staff, on behalf of the President of India, Mr

Pranab Mukherjee Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...

. The Regiment had the honour of participating in the annual Republic Day parade on many occasions.

Equipment

The Regiment had the

tanks at the time of raising. It was handed six pre-production series of the MBT Arjun in 1993, being the first Regiment to use these tanks. From 1995, it had a mix of

T-55 The T-54 and T-55 tanks are a series of Soviet medium tanks introduced in the years following the Second World War. The first T-54 prototype was completed at Nizhny Tagil by the end of 1945.Steven Zaloga, T-54 and T-55 Main Battle Tanks 1944–2 ...

and Arjun tanks. In 2009, the Regiment received its full complement of Arjun Tanks.

Operations

The regiment has participated in Operation Trident, Operation Vijay,

Operation Rakshak Indian Army operations in Jammu and Kashmir include security operations such as Operation ''Rakshak'', which began in 1990, Operation ''Sarp Vinash'' in 2003 and Operation ''Randori Behak'' in ''2020''. Other operations include humanitarian m ...

and

Operation Parakram Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

Regimental Insignia

The Regimental badge comprises a chariot being led by four horses depicting the four squadrons. The reins of the horses are steered by the Commandant, while the Adjutant stands astride holding the high the Regimental colours. The colours of the Regiment are Sky Blue (signifies limitedness) over Navy Blue (signifies fearlessness). The Regimental motto is “Yudhyasva Vigat Jwar” which means “To Fight With A Calm And Determined Mind”.

References

{{Indian Army Armoured Corps , state=expanded Military units and formations established in 1981 Armoured and cavalry regiments of the Indian Army from 1947