Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) is a laboratory of the

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, head ...

(DRDO). Located at

Avadi Avadi () is a city Located within the Chennai metropolitan area, Its the headquarters of Avadi Police, Avadi City Police, Avadi City Municipal Corporation, Avadi City Corporation and Avadi taluk, Avadi Taluk located within the Thiruvallur dist ...

, in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is the main DRDO lab involved in the development of

armoured fighting vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (British English) or armored fighting vehicle (American English) (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by vehicle armour, armour, generally combining operational mobility with Offensive (military), offensive a ...

Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

s, Automotive electronics and many other.

History

After the

Independence of India The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

, the Chief Inspectorate of Mechanical Transport Establishment (MTE), which was previously located in

Chaklala Chaklala is a major suburban town of Rawalpindi in the Punjab (Pakistan), Punjab province of Pakistan. It covers an area of (8,405 acres). The population of the town is 333,115 according to the 2023 census. Chaklala Cantonment is one of the thre ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, was moved to

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 ...

. It was later renamed as Vehicle Research & Development Establishment ( VRDE), Ahmednagar. In 1965, the Heavy Vehicles Factory under the Ordnance Factory Board was set up at Avadi to manufacture Vijayanta Tanks. A detachment of VRDE was established there to provide R&D support. In March 1976, the VRDE detachment at Avadi was split off from VRDE and re-designated as Combat Vehicles Research & Development Establishment (CVRDE), as an independent DRDO laboratory responsible for Research & Development of Armoured Fighting Vehicles. During CVRDE's

Golden Jubilee A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali language, ...

in 2024, it was noted by

Indian government The Government of India (ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of 36 states and union territor ...

officials that CVRDE should lend a greater focus on innovation emerging trends in the overall defence industry.

Areas of Work

CVRDE has been tasked with the design, development and testing of tracked combat vehicles and specialized tracked vehicles. It has also designed certain aircraft subsystems, mainly related to the engine and hydraulics. Like many DRDO labs, it also develops civilian technologies based on spin-offs of the defence related products developed by it. It has recently started developing Unmanned Ground Vehicles of the tracked category.

Projects and Products

CVRDE is the main research lab responsible for the development of the Arjun MBT, 248 of which have been ordered by the Indian Army. It has also developed the Tank-EX, Bhim Self Propelled Artillery, based on the Arjun Chassis, and the Combat Improved Ajeya, an upgrade 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 ...

T-72 The T-72 is a family of Soviet Union, Soviet main battle tanks that entered production in 1973. The T-72 was a development based on the T-64 using thought and design of the previous Object 167M. About 25,000 T-72 tanks have been built, and refu ...

Tanks. Apart from these, CVRDE has also developed other combat and

Engineering Vehicles Heavy equipment, heavy machinery, earthmovers, construction vehicles, or construction equipment, refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large con ...

, like Armored Cars, Bridge-layer Tanks, Armoured Recovery Vehicles and a Mortar Carrier based on the BMP-2 chassis. CVRDE is also working on many technologies related to Armoured Fighting vehicles. CVRDE has a division dedicated to development of Automatic transmissions for Armored Fighting Vehicles. It has developed transmissions of various power ranges viz. 1500, 800, 150 hp. It has developed various subsystems of transmission like torque converter, Fluid coupling and retarder, Steering units, Final drives etc.

Muntra Muntra is a family of unmanned vehicle, unmanned armored vehicle developed by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation. The name stands for "Mission Unmanned Tracked" Design Muntra is a family modified Soviet BMP-2 armored personn ...

, India's first ever unmanned

armored vehicle Military vehicles are commonly armoured (or armored; see spelling differences) to withstand the impact of shrapnel, bullets, shells, rockets, and missiles, protecting the personnel inside from enemy fire. Such vehicles include armoured fighti ...

was developed here. CVRDE has also developed the Zorawar LT

light tank A light tank is a Tank classification, tank variant initially designed for rapid movements in and out of combat, to outmaneuver heavier tanks. It is smaller with thinner vehicle armour, armor and a less powerful tank gun, main gun, tailored for ...

which, as of 2024, has completed live-fire trials and is also expected to undertake limited user testing in the same year.

References

External links

* * {{coord missing, Tamil Nadu Defence Research and Development Organisation laboratories Research institutes in Chennai Research institutes in Tamil Nadu Research institutes established in 1975 1975 establishments in Tamil Nadu

History

Areas of Work

Projects and Products

See also

References

External links