The Indian Army may not have used a tank in a war in over two decades, but several experiments are on to protect tanks from enemy fire. One such technique involves the use of a smoke grenade, which generates a lot of smoke, screens the tank from the enemy and gives it time to escape hostile fire.

An anti thermal, anti laser smoke grenade is being developed by city based High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL); the last trials for this were held here in August.

“The smoke screen will be generated in around four seconds and remain there for around 20 seconds allowing tanks to escape. This is the latest technology in this field and the last trials with the Army happened recently in August,” said HEMRL director Subananda Rao.

These grenades increase tank survivability on the field, scientists said. The principal is simple enough - all tanks use laser range finders to judge the distance of the enemy tank; the “81 mm- smoke grenade” developed by HEMRL produces a smoke screen that is impenetrable for lasers; when the enemy is unable to judge the distance or find the coordinates of its target tank, it will be unable to fire anti tank missiles. Scientists’ say the smoke grenades currently with India need 10 seconds to reach the target and generate smoke over 35 seconds. The latest ones developed by HEMRL begin generating smoke in four seconds and provide a smoke screen for around 20 seconds.

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