THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Down south, it’s not every day you get to see even one battle tank up close, let alone two. But this will change. For the Army has gifted Sainik School Kazhakoottam two decommissioned T-55 battle tanks. The tanks will be put on display on either side of the main gates of the school. The formal dedication will done on Saturday, when two of the Army’s senior-most lieutenant generals and a Vice Admiral of the Navy – all alumni – visit their Alma Mater for the passing-out parade of the 2018 batch.
“We had applied for two tanks to the Army so that we can have them on display. Lieutenant General Sarath Chand, the Vice-Chief of Army Staff and one of the officers who will be visiting, is an alumnus. He got the tanks released for us,” Lieutenant Colonel B Girish Kumar, the registrar of the school, said.
A Russian tank from the Soviet era, the T-55 was used by India in the 1965 and 1971 wars with Pakistan.
Main Battle Tanks, they weigh 40 tonnes each, are fitted with 105 mm rifled guns and offer some protection – rudimentary by today’s standards – against nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) weapons.
The Sainik School already has a decommissioned Vijayanta battle tank on the campus and a Pechora ‘missile park.’ “The T-55s will be a motivation not just for the cadets but the general public also,” Girish Kumar said.