New Delhi: American defence contractor, and leading missile developer and manufacturer, Raytheon Co, said Friday it would partner Indian engineering and  construction giant, Larsen & Toubro, in a bid to upgrade up to 1,000 Indian Army T-72 battle tanks.

The Fish Hawk

Indian defence ministry officials have let it be known that the country was looking to spend at least $100 million in upgrading these Russian tanks bought three decades ago.

"The upgrade will increase the lethality of the T-72 tanks," Fritz Treyz, vice president, Raytheon (India operations), informed the media.

Ratheon had earlier tied-up with engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro in India for the ongoing Indian Air Force medium range, multi-role combat aircraft tender for construction and supply of systems as part of the industrial offsets arrangement. Raytheon has been a supplier of sensitive defence weapons and civil electronics systems, such as radars.

Its relationship with India has continued irrespective of all hiccups in bilateral relationship.

In turn, L&T has been a major supplier of critical systems to India's defence and space research sectors for more than three decades. Its products cover a wide range, including rocket and missile launchers, naval systems, radar systems, gun-upgrades, fire-control systems, and tank electronics among others.