Tronic

Dated 7/5/2007

Replying to Standing Committee on Defence(2004-2005) the representative of the Ministry of Defence during oral evidence has stated "We have no difficulty to go this summer with the five tanks which the Army would like to put through its own accelerated user trials. Arjun has been checked by the DRDO along with 43 Armour Regiment."

The Indian Army was conducting un-official trials of India's indegenious Main Battle Tank - Arjun - during its summer war games being held currently in Rajasthan. The Army has absolutely 'zero complaints' from the performance of the Arjun Tank in dusty, hot desert conditions in Rajasthan. The Army had previously some reservations about the performance and effectiveness of the Tank in operational conditions.

On April 22, 2006, in an 'Know Your Army' exhibition, when asked by a reporter on Arjun tank, Brig (Retd) Prabir Goswami replied "it's a highly-sophisticated tank with several state-of-the-art components and a very high first round hit capability a must to survive in an increasingly hostile battlefield having multiple anti-tank threats compounded by developed terrain restrictions on India’s western border."

On being asked that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) developed MBT Arjun's 120 mm-calibre rifled gun was of the same diameter as the M256 smooth-bore gun on the US Army's M1A2 Abrams, the expert said, "The gun is very important but it is a part of a weapon system -- the whole tank -- and the difference is that the Americans are old hands at this game."

"The American advantage of private firms manufacturing prototypes for trials, as part of a competitive environment entailing selection of the best, bespeaks of the amount of finances these firms are willing to spend to develop such sophisticated weaponry. Still, the MBT has several good points and should help the DRDO develop more efficient models in future."

Arjun Tank and DRDO have been under attack from vested interest -- namely lobbies pushing for foreign defence acquisitions - from both within the Indian Army, middlemen and foreign agencies who would not like to see India to produce major weapon systems ingeniously.

While there have doctored media report in media against Arjun Tank, the Indian Army Tank users do not have problems with Arjun Tank. The T-90S tanks imported from Russia are under cloud as the tanks have developed defects. The tanks were imported without proper testing and despite the T-90S failing tests in Indian desert conditions. T-90S is not meant for Indian conditions, where as, Arjun Tank has been tested more than 100,000 kilometers and perfected in Indian conditions.

The first 15 tanks of the 124 have already been activated. Of the remaining 109 tanks, the Indian Army is currently putting the first five tanks from the production lines at Avadi, through accelerated build quality and reliability trials. The intent is to verify whether the Arjun production has stabilized, with the requisite quality and performance requirements. Upon successful completion, the remaining 104 tanks will be manufactured in batches. The planned production rate is currently pegged at thirty tanks per year, with the Army requesting fifty per year as the ideal.

On Oct. 13th 2006, the Indian Minister of Defence reported that the Arjun was slated for full scale production soon. He also stated that five tanks had already delivered to the Indian Army and 23 were ready for delivery.

Indian Army Satisfied With Arjun MBTs Performance | India Defence

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Shamus

I find the 120mm rifled main gun interesting.Aside from APFSDS rounds it also fires HESH(High explosive squash head)rounds like the British 120mm rifled gun.I have read that the rifling is neccessary for the proper function of the HESH rounds.Can anyone tell me why?Does a HESH round work similarly to a shaped charge?

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it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

joey

You guys cannot imagine the psy ops floated against Arjun in the media............................Army has told in press they are satisfied with tank performance, yet two anti-arjun article came out stating "broken torsion suspension in the tests" apparently it doesnt even uses torson suspension rather hydro-pneumatic suspension.Another article said imaging opened from the tank when the imager is integrated with line of sight...what utter useless psy ops floated by arms lobbies!!

Another report came out quoting Army chief in parts part (not full sentence) and pushing the agenda.

no T9xx comes any close!!

Wait and see how Arjun is evolving, will shut up many


Ironically it is T90S FCS suffering problems..and so its some other things and MOD is planning to make the FCS from indian pvt firms!!

Blademaster

Hey joey who's the good looking gal in your avatar? Can I ask her out?

joey

^ taken mate

Ray

The Chief has to find re-employment worthy of his rank and position!

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"Some have learnt many Tricks of sly Evasion, Instead of Truth they use Equivocation, And eke it out with mental Reservation, Which is to good Men an Abomination."

I don't have to attend every argument I'm invited to.

HAKUNA MATATA

Archer

Joey, and fellow arjun lovers et al;

Dont get your hopes up. The next day there will be an article saying the reverse. Gentlemen, the Indian Army, for better or worse, is a T-72 army. The Arjun does not fit too well into that plan, and so it goes.
Hope that DRDO/OFB get technology and experience from this project, and a few hundred tanks are produced once it manages to stick around long enough. But the standard MBT it wont be, the Army is too entrenched in the T style operational usage, and logistics. Look towards the future. Hopefully the Arjun experience wont be allowed to die out.

Dont worry have curry! No fear, have beer!

Cheers!!

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My bow is stretched for its task

Ray

Archer,

What is the difference in the employment of the T series and the Arjun or even western tanks in the Indian context?

chankya

Bridges, rail carriages, roads?

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texasjohn

Could you expand on that? I have never got a straight answer from anyone on that. I am trying to learn!

chankya

The standard Indian flatbed trailer is too small for the arjun. It kinda sticks out more than is allowed. This means you'll need new trailers for strategic mobility. This is especially important in India where strategic transportation of tanks and artillery is almost always via trains. Come to think of it Infantry moves in trains as well.

Roads and Bridges have a stated load bearing capacity. Most Indian tanks come in at under 50 tons. The Arjun is close to 60 tons. Again a mobility issue.

The tank has a lot of problems but the technology development is kind of worth it. I see a limited production for the tank and the "lessons learnt" going into making a better tank.

Kartajan

This is summary straight of Indian Army website and press-relases:

Rails and Transports refer to the weight-carrying capacity of the necessary transporters - Arjun is significantly heavier (54+ tons) than the T-72 or T-90 (46+ tons), so some of the transporters may fail or not be as efficient. Roads and bridges refer to their load-bearing capacity - for bridges (especially Army Engineer's pontoons) its self-apparent problem.

Other considerations include personnel re-organization (T series have 3 man crew, Arjun plans on having a crew of 4), change in tactics (got heavier armour, but also gained some height), maybe change in lower-formations doctrine etc. Nothing insurmountable, just irritating.

==

I am not qualified to make judgements on these statements, but on the surface they seem legitimate enough. Meanwhile I am just parrotting them for your benefit.

Jay

I think Brig.Ray was asking about the strategic/tactical employment of Arjuns wrt T series, not just the logistics.

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chankya

My mistake. I was just pointing out the most obvious problems with inducting the Arjun.

The one thing I don't get about the Arjun is why it has so many large flat surfaces. They're either doing something very clever or they slept during the "angled surfaces" lecture.

joey

where is zraver when we need him most?
Flat surfaces due to its armour brick formation, chobbam style, ceramic armour.

short explanation.



Archer, Arjun will come in numbers when pakistan will get Al khalid 2
I have my hopes up, and more i want to see any new pics of arjun, dont know why none has surfaced, there has been reportedly some changed!

Hopeautocar carries out another review