The thermal imager and Night Vision sights for both the Commander and the Gunner originally came from Thales. Though its ability to withstand the Thar desert heat is deeply suspect. This is why the AC has been fixed, both on T90 & the Arjun. It was finally replaced by our BEL.
Very impressive performance and endurance in 50^0 C heat. Far better than the Thales in endurance.
By cost, the Arjun is 42% indegenious.
In comparison,
Merkava IV-(Israel)
Powerpack - General Dynamics
(licensed MTU)Transmission
Ashot Ashkelon (licensed Renk)
K1A1-(South Korea)
Gun - Rheinmetall L44 120mm
Powerpack - MTUT
ranmission - RenkK-2
Black Panther(South Korea)
Gun - Rheinmetall L55 120mm(German)
Powerpack - MTU (to be replaced with domestic engine)
Autoloader design adapted from Leclerc-Leclerc-(France)
Powerpack - Wartsila(Finland)
Transmission - Renk
Challenger 2-(UK)
(changes part to-Gun - L30A1 (now being changed to Rheinmetall L55)
FCS - Computing Devices Co(Canada)
Panoramic Sight - Sagem(France)
TI sight - Thales(France)
Powerpack - Perkins(MTU on 2E variant)
Transmission - David Brown(Renk on 2E variant)
Everyine wants the final platform to be cheap, and in the process, gets certain components from abroad, for a variety of reasons. The Arjun is similar to the above tanks but somehow the imported content makes this tank a foreign one. How come the Lecrec is French?
well, the challenger 2E was intended for export, and therefore incorporated a lot of foreign components. the original challenger 2 has a domestic panoramic(daysight only) and TI sight, as well as a domestic powerpack and transmission.
nobody bought the challenger 2E however.
sticking to mostly domestic components is a matter of pride.
btw you forgot the Abrams
modified german RH 120mm gun labeled M256, british armour and belgian coax/loaders machine guns.
"Mobility" means speed / rate of travel between two points which also means the ability to surpass obstacles and other impediments occuring between those points.
Say, if one asks me if T-90 is more mobile than Arjun for travel from Gwalior to Taran Taran in Punjab, I would with certainity say that T-90 is more mobile.
It would take three times the efforts and times to move Arjun from Gwalior to Taran Taran.
Arjun is heavier, but it also has a larger engine. the power/weight ratio of the Arjun is actually higher than the T-90, which means the Arjun can accelerate faster, and obtain a higher top speed than the T-90. Arjun has a higher fuel consumption, but also larger fuel tanks, which means it has the same range as the T-90.
Arjun also has higher reverse speed than T-90, and a lower gun depression, giving it a much better ability to take up defensive positions.
however, higher weight puts more stress on the running gear, which means it has higher demand of maintenance.
but the T-90 engine is nearing it's maximum upgrade limit. already the V92 engine life is reduced over the V84 due to it being overpowered for it's size, demanding a higher frequency of engine replacement.
Of course , solutions like these are used in all the western countries that operate heavier MBTs. But people who are looking for a stick to beat Arjun will always remember to forget this.With the advent of top attack anti tank missiles and higher penetration APFSD rounds, future tanks are not going to become light weight overnight.
ERA protection won't help in case the same place is hit repeatedly. So having light weight easily transportable , lesser armor , relying on turret geometry tanks, that need external exposed air conditioning system to stop the crews from fainting (that means you are vulnerable whenever you turn the gun , because weak turret sides will get exposed.) won't help in the long run, neither does heaping ammo on the floor of the tank hoping that turret won't lift off in ammo cook-off resulting from any seep through explosion.
As there is no way for safe handling of ammo with auto loaders , It is better to have each piece of ammo stored as safe as possible , rather than leaving them exposed in the bargain of a bit higher rate of fire.
The Arjun actually has a higher rate of fire than the T-90. the T-90 autoloader takes about 7.5-10 seconds to load a round, whereas a well-trained human loader can load the gun in 4-6 seconds.
The claim that ammunition in the Arjun is better protected from ammunition cook-off is only partially true. The Arjun ammunition protection solution is the same as the israeli one. as long as the ammunition bunkers are not hit directly, the ammunition will not cook off, as the ammunition bunkers are protected from secondary spalling. however, a direct hit to either the hull ammunition bunker, or turret ammunition bunker will still result in the crew being cooked alive.