Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT)

[Kunal Biswas]

When i talked to the DRDO team at DEFEXPO i asked them regarding upgrades for the target acquisition and other electronics packages in the Arjun, the equipment used in the production arjun is essentially 1995 vintage(same as the prototype) while the world of electronics has undergone a revolution.They had no answer except that they were exploring various options. while using older electronics is common in many western tanks as well one must not lose sight of the upgrades.

First thing the DRDO guys around the Arjun during DEFEXPO2010 had almost no technical knowledge, Every question i asked the answered me " Sir its ultra top secret " ..

Regarding Arjun`s electronics and FCS its way ahead of what we were using in 1995-2002, The FCS in Arjun have gone various improvements since 2002, There were some Articles back in 2005 referring to Israeli FCS, Arjun FCS back in 2002 was 'Bharat Electronics AL-4421 Mk.1B Digital FCS', Later DRDO with the collaboration Elbit, had gone through various FCS programs, Todays Arjun MK-1 are having much better FCS which is hybridized variant of Tadir FCS & Our own Bharat Electronics AL-4421 Mk.1B..

Arjun Program had gone through massive changes in terms of electronics and FCS back in 2002-08
certainly not 1995 but 2002-08..

http://indiadefenceonline.com/119/imi-of-israel-to-advice-army-on-arjun-tank/November 6, 2008..

 

[K Factor]

From the first thread......

Buddy an ERA tile is no bigger than a Brick which is about 10 cm wide. so here you are talking about a CEP of 10 cm ... which is possible only by sniper rifles not tank guns... if you are talking about blind luck then even a composite armour hit exactly at the same point will yield.

1 hit may take out many blocks/plates of ERA, not just one.

Also, there are some soft spots on a tank where a sniper (with a .50 cal AP round) is trained to target.

 

[plugwater]

The Arjun MBT's Final Trial By Fire Detailed

Comparative trials between MBT Arjun and T-90 tanks were held during 15 February to 12 March 2010, to evaluate the utilisation strategy by the Indian Army. The evaluation parameters were firepower, mobility, maintainability and medium fording. The trials were conducted in four phases.

Phase I: This was conducted at 180 Armoured Brigade, Bikaner. Acceleration, turning radius, stab performance, ergonomics, static fuel consumption, and serviceability and mean time to repair were checked for various subsystems of the tanks. Phase II: This was conducted at Hisar, Haryana. Check was made for medium fording capability. Phase III: This was conducted at Mahajan Ranges, Rajasthan. Bridge crossing, night driving, maximum speed on cross-country and on hard ground, tilt driving, firing of primary and secondary ammunition, firing at night with thermal imagers (TI), consistency, rate of fire, thermal signature, TI capability and firing of small arms and Air Defence (AD) Gun were compared. In this phase, approximately 100 rounds were fired and 150 km of mobility run was completed by each of the 14 MBT Arjun tanks. Phase IV:This was conducted at Ranjitpura, Rajasthan. Mobility in the desert and tactical cruising range were evaluated by running three tanks each for additional 150 km. MBT Arjun displayed its capabilities and successfully passed all the trials.

http://www.livefist.blogspot.com/

 

[sayareakd]

First thing the DRDO guys around the Arjun during DEFEXPO2010 had almost no technical knowledge, Every question i asked the answered me " Sir its ultra top secret " ..

Kunal you are lucky at least they were giving you answers, i did not get any answer from guys at Arjun tank, when they come to know i was from website.

 

[sayareakd]

The Arjun MBT's Final Trial By Fire Detailed

MBT Arjun displayed its capabilities and successfully passed all the trials.

Arjun did what was expected of it, we all knew about it, it was only IA (DGMF) who was pretend not to know about the capabilities of Arjun.

Now the million $$ question is how did T 90S perform in the trial as we have about 1600 of those Tin 90s in our army. (surely they are inferior to Arjun tanks).

 

[Patriot]

The Arjun MBT's Final Trial By Fire Detailed
BYRDO PR

The photo of Arjun MBTs above and the following detailed account appears in the latest DRDO newsletter: Comparative trials between MBT Arjun and T-90 tanks were held during 15 February to 12 March 2010, to evaluate the utilisation strategy by the Indian Army. The evaluation parameters were firepower, mobility, maintainability and medium fording. The trials were conducted in four phases.

Phase I: This was conducted at 180 Armoured Brigade, Bikaner. Acceleration, turning radius, stab performance, ergonomics, static fuel consumption, and serviceability and mean time to repair were checked for various subsystems of the tanks. Phase II: This was conducted at Hisar, Haryana. Check was made for medium fording capability. Phase III: This was conducted at Mahajan Ranges, Rajasthan. Bridge crossing, night driving, maximum speed on cross-country and on hard ground, tilt driving, firing of primary and secondary ammunition, firing at night with thermal imagers (TI), consistency, rate of fire, thermal signature, TI capability and firing of small arms and Air Defence (AD) Gun were compared. In this phase, approximately 100 rounds were fired and 150 km of mobility run was completed by each of the 14 MBT Arjun tanks. Phase IV:This was conducted at Ranjitpura, Rajasthan. Mobility in the desert and tactical cruising range were evaluated by running three tanks each for additional 150 km. MBT Arjun displayed its capabilities and successfully passed all the trials.



http://idrw.org/?p=1907

 

[Patriot]

Tank Trouble: Arjun's Uphill Road

http://livefist.blogspot.com/2010/06/tank-trouble-arjuns-uphill-road.html

 

[Yatharth Singh]

Really a nice video on Arjun MK 1. You will feel proud to be an Indian. An overview of Arjun. I found it like a dream come true for every Indian.
Must Watch.

 

[Rahul Singh]

From wikipedia

50% of the tank's components are imported, which include the engine, transmission, gun barrel, tracks, and fire control system.[11]
Link

From DRDO official web page.

One of the most prestigious and ambitious weapon system project undertaken at ARDE is the 120mm Main Armament and Ammunition system for the ARJUN MBT. ARDE has developed a super velocity gun
Link

As far as i know Arjun main gun was developed by ARDE and DRDO official website confirms.

Looks like pakistanis with the help of Arjun hate camp is going all out against Arjun. It is extremely stupid that these people doesn't feel shame in giving false links and references. Check link 11 on Arjun wiki page, it talks nothing about which it has been used as a supporting reference.

I appeal to some of you to create account on wikipedia and help others in restricting these shameful acts.

 

[nitesh]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...of-Arjun-MBT-Saraswat/articleshow/6115428.cms
DRDO working on more advanced version of Arjun MBT: Saraswat

NEW DELHI: After receiving orders for 124 more Arjun main battle tanks, the DRDO has decided to supply an advanced version of the weapon system to meet the requirements of the Army.

"We will have the modifications (on Arjuns) that the Army is looking for," Defence Research and Development Organisation chief V K Saraswat said here on Thursday.

He was asked if the DRDO had any plans of delivering a more advanced version of Arjun to the Army as part of the next order. The DRDO chief was talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function to mark the golden jubilee of the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS).

Saraswat said that the DRDO had already started working on the mark II version of the tank, which will incorporate a number of modifications that have been sought by the Army.

"We have to make certain modifications in the tank, which we call the Arjun mark II version. Development process on mark II is already in progress and our scientists and the Army are working together," Saraswat said.

The DRDO chief said the decision by the Army to place orders for 124 more Arjuns will ensure that the assembly line of the tanks is "engaged".

Army has till date placed orders for 248 Arjun tanks of which 124 have already been delivered to it. The orders for additional 124 tanks was placed after the comparative trials in March and April this year.

The comparative trials between the Arjun and the Russian T-90 were carried out to decided the future of the tank in the Army, during which the indigenous tanks reportedly performed satisfactorily.

The DRDO wants the Army to place orders for at least 500 Arjuns to recover its investments before staring work on the futuristic main battle tank for the service.

Commenting on the role of INMAS during the recent Mayapuri radiation leak case here, Saraswat said, "INMAS also has the expertise of detecting nuclear radiation and we provided the fastest response to the casualties there. We were able to send our teams within four hours and we also found out the level of radiation."

 

[BunBunCake]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...of-Arjun-MBT-Saraswat/articleshow/6115428.cms
DRDO working on more advanced version of Arjun MBT: Saraswat

NEW DELHI: After receiving orders for 124 more Arjun main battle tanks, the DRDO has decided to supply an advanced version of the weapon system to meet the requirements of the Army.

"We will have the modifications (on Arjuns) that the Army is looking for," Defence Research and Development Organisation chief V K Saraswat said here on Thursday.

So I was right after all, the Arjun doesn't meet the requirements of the Army. Now it's still in development =)

 

[Daredevil]

So I was right after all, the Arjun doesn't meet the requirements of the Army. Now it's still in development =)

Arjun meets all the requirements as specified in GSQR by Army. These are the additional modifications that Army requested to DRDO to be included in the Mark-2 version or the next batch of Arjuns.

 

[BunBunCake]

Arjun meets all the requirements as specified in GSQR by Army. These are the additional modifications that Army requested to DRDO to be included in the Mark-2 version or the next batch of Arjuns.

I'm sorry, but here's the quote:

After receiving orders for 124 more Arjun main battle tanks, the DRDO has decided to supply an advanced version of the weapon system to meet the requirements of the Army.

The 124 arjuns ordered by the Army aren't the Mark-II version. They are still Mark-I. DRDO will supply this advanced weapon system for this 124 Arjuns. thus meaning that the tank is still in development!/making changes and does not currently meet the full requirement of the Army.


THEN comes this:

"He was asked if the DRDO had any plans of delivering a more advanced version of Arjun to the Army as part of the next order."

The later part is about the Mark-II, where they will be making even more changes,

 

[Daredevil]

I'm sorry, but here's the quote:
The 124 arjuns ordered by the Army aren't the Mark-II version. They are still Mark-I. DRDO will supply this advanced weapon system for this 124 Arjuns. thus meaning that the tank is still in development!/making changes and does not currently meet the full requirement of the Army.


THEN comes this:
The later part is about the Mark-II, where they will be making even more changes,

See this,

Army has till date placed orders for 248 Arjun tanks of which 124 have already been delivered to it. The orders for additional 124 tanks was placed after the comparative trials in March and April this year.

124 Arjuns already delivered. Did you mean 124 didn't meet the requirements of army and Indian Army anyways inducted it??. I don't think so. All the new modifications that Army asking is for the next version.

Now this is what Saraswat meant

"We have to make certain modifications in the tank, which we call the Arjun mark II version. Development process on mark II is already in progress and our scientists and the Army are working together," Saraswat said.

http://www.bharatrakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=13106

 

[Kunal Biswas]

I'm sorry, but here's the quote:
The 124 arjuns ordered by the Army aren't the Mark-II version. They are still Mark-I. DRDO will supply this advanced weapon system for this 124 Arjuns. thus meaning that the tank is still in development!/making changes and does not currently meet the full requirement of the Army.
THEN comes this:
The later part is about the Mark-II, where they will be making even more changes,

First 124 Arjun are not with ERA and Lahat missiles..
Second batch will be equipped with these systems, Like any other MBT which continuously evolved with time and which is hard thing to understand for Indian Media (..
Unfortunately..

Btw, Their is no specification given by IA known to public..

 

[Yatharth Singh]

I'm sorry, but here's the quote:
The 124 arjuns ordered by the Army aren't the Mark-II version. They are still Mark-I. DRDO will supply this advanced weapon system for this 124 Arjuns. thus meaning that the tank is still in development!/making changes and does not currently meet the full requirement of the Army.


THEN comes this:
The later part is about the Mark-II, where they will be making even more changes,

Brother the quote which you made bold and underlined was about Arjun MK 2 and not Current Arjun and the "requirement of the IA" means that the requirement it wants in MK2 version. Why dont the check the source provided by Nitesh? Simply end of all discussions.

 

[sayareakd]

GSQR is super secret document of our Military, that info is not share with public.

 

[p2prada]

The Arjun did not meet some criterias of the GSSQR. Weight is one issue, the army did say the tank was overweight. Then there is transmission and engine. ERA is an added part and can be done any time. LAHAT only needs recalibration of the FCS. Even the first 124 will fire the LAHAT once that's done.

The engine is set to be replaced with the DRDO's 1500HP engine which was the army's original requirement. Transmission and gear structure is set to change too. It will be more modern and will generate more Torque. This will give it a better acceleration and the SFC will hopefully be on par with western tanks.

 

[Yatharth Singh]

Can anyone please tell me why its weight is an issue cause M1 Abrams is a couple of tonnes heavier than Arjun and still it is serving as the best tank in the batlefield?

 

[san]

The Arjun did not meet some criterias of the GSSQR. Weight is one issue, the army did say the tank was overweight. Then there is transmission and engine. ERA is an added part and can be done any time. LAHAT only needs recalibration of the FCS. Even the first 124 will fire the LAHAT once that's done.

The engine is set to be replaced with the DRDO's 1500HP engine which was the army's original requirement. Transmission and gear structure is set to change too. It will be more modern and will generate more Torque. This will give it a better acceleration and the SFC will hopefully be on par with western tanks.

Not sure how a tank become overweight. Abram, Challey, Markava all are above 60 Ton but nobody is saying those are overweight. If Yankees can bring 3,000 Abrams from USA to Kuwait and defeat the Iraqis, cannot we indian bring 125 Arjuns from Ambala, Bhopal or where ever they are to Amitsar or to Jaisalmir?