It was around three years ago that the idea of a light tank germinated at L&T Defence. The defence arm of the engineering and construction major had been working on the Vajra K9 howitzers for the Indian Army; the need for equipment at high altitudes like in Ladakh and the Sino-India border was the driver for such a product. L&T Defence teamed up with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which was also looking at a light tank, to develop it. After co-designing the 25-tonne light tank, the DRDO in 2022 placed an order with L&T as a development-cum-production partner to build the first prototype.