You guys are aware that india is deploying T90s to counter the PLA Type15s already deployed To Tibet, not the other way around right?
The Indian T90 deployment is typically knee-jerk, copy-cat, and all flare and no substance; as we should now come to expect from India.
China showed video of Type15s exercising in Tibet, so India needs to have tanks in the region as well. The T90 is tank with the best mobility in Indian inventories, but it really is a case of least worst rather than best, as is the case with the Type15, which had high altitude performance as a key design feature.
Indian T90s are all for show, and will be of exceptionally limited use if there was actual combat.
They will suffer the same geographical limitations as any MBT trying to operate in the area, and are literally stuck in a naturals cauldron with nowhere to advance to, and only one narrow, poor quality road that the PLA overlooks to retreat from.
It will be incredibly easy for the PLA to simply bottle them up and either obliterate them with long range artillery, or simply wait for them to run out of fuel and get some free T90s to play with or to add to museum collections.
The Type15s, OTOH, will be able to go places the T90 has no chance of following or countering, and are intended to spearhead advances against India bunkers and strong points.
Even where it cannot physically get to, the Type15 would still have a very good chance of getting to high ground overlooking the engagement area to provide direct fire support.
I am doubtful if PLA Type15s would even carry sabot rounds if combat was joined. Instead they will probably just carry a number of ATGMs as anti-tank back up, that will still be fairly effective against bunkers and the like so they are not wasting any ammo slots.
We have to remember that the Chinese Bastion derivatives are only what is being offered for export, and it is pretty much standard practice for the PLA to always keep something better off limits for sales that they rely on themselves.
China already fields top attack conventional ATGMs, so a 105mm tank fired one is certainly not beyond their capabilities, the only question is one of cost and time.
But even with Bastions, a Type15 can give a T90 a good run for its money. Even if a hit doesn’t kill the T90 outright, it will be mission killed at a bare minimum. Bastions far outrange the T90s gun, but even if the T90 does manage to get within range to take a shot, the Type15’s APS has a very good chance of stopping it, so bean riding is not that big of an issue.
But the main point is that Type15s shouldn’t be seeing T90s, and those T90s India are claiming to be deploying can be dealt with easily enough without needing Type15s or Z10s or drones.
A few specops spotters with a radio will be enough to see them obliterated by long range PLA artillery.
