Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT)

[lambu]

thanks to every one for updating regarding arjun tanks.

 

[sayareakd]

IA should also invest in this type of balloon Arjun tank with tin foil at the outside (even a small heater) to give fake thermal signature on wheels.

This is what Russians has develop.

 

[pmaitra]

One of the greatest tank battles since WW2 has been the battle of Assal Uttar in 1965.

I would like to draw everyone's attention to the fact that in that war, canals were breached, causing massive flooding in the plains. Consequently, Pakistani tanks were stuck in the flooded plains and were sitting ducks for jeep mounted RCL guns of the Indian Army. This made Indian victory possible and destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the Patton Tanks.

I was wondering: What if India deployed regiment(s) of hovercraft armed with Nag missiles or RCL guns, breached the canals again, and faced the Pakistani tanks in the plains of Punjab with the hovercrafts? Be it grass, water or slush, a hovercraft will be highly agile and mobile and capable of engaging targets.

A typical hovercraft would look like this:


Pakistan outstripping India in the number of tanks, although a serious threat, can be overcome with some out-of-the-box thinking. If anybody thinks there are weaknesses or drawbacks to this idea, please fell free to comment.

 

[Yusuf]

Pretty good idea. To take it further I wonder if there is a hovertank as such already in existence and if not has anyone toyed with the idea?

 

[sayareakd]

hover tank is good idea in theory but not very good idea in practically as it has to lift lot of armour that require more power for the fans to lift it.

here is artistic impression of the same

http://img459.imageshack.us/i/tank118lm.jpg

 

[Kunal Biswas]

One of the greatest tank battles since WW2 has been the battle of Assal Uttar in 1965.

I would like to draw everyone's attention to the fact that in that war, canals were breached, causing massive flooding in the plains. Consequently, Pakistani tanks were stuck in the flooded plains and were sitting ducks for jeep mounted RCL guns of the Indian Army. This made Indian victory possible and destroyed the myth of the invincibility of the Patton Tanks.

I was wondering: What if India deployed regiment(s) of hovercraft armed with Nag missiles or RCL guns, breached the canals again, and faced the Pakistani tanks in the plains of Punjab with the hovercrafts? Be it grass, water or slush, a hovercraft will be highly agile and mobile and capable of engaging targets.

A typical hovercraft would look like this:
View attachment 1536

Pakistan outstripping India in the number of tanks, although a serious threat, can be overcome with some out-of-the-box thinking.

( It depends on quality of tanks, Also the number which can be maintained, PA regt operate mass no of T-59 ( Chinese T-55 ) some 300-600 got upgrades, Compare to IA T-72M1 which is in mass use,T-59 lack behind, Besides a good Indian Tanker can take on Any PA tanks with his rusty T-72 )

If anybody thinks there are weaknesses or drawbacks to this idea, please fell free to comment.

1. RCL guns are gone and replaced by Milan-1 ATGM..

2. Armour never go without Infantry support..

3. A Hovercraft is a good platform for recce/Surveillance, but always vulnerable to small arm fire, ( PA regulars have 7.62NATO assult rifle and they have concept of HMG )

4. IA use jeeps for mobile ATGM platform, It provide flexibility, low maintenance, low fuel consumption, and provide some protection from Small arm fire..

 

[Yusuf]

Kunal, but what about the canals that they use as defence? If India was to take decision to split pak in half in any future war (not considering other factors like nuke threshold of pak) then something like a hovercraft would be a good thing.
The soviets built massive hovercrafts with guided missiles on them.

 

[nitesh]

I think this hovercraft thingy is too exotic, our tanks and IFV's are already capable of fording/ have amphibious capability. Even Namcia has proved amphibious capability.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Kunal, but what about the canals that they use as defence?

The Canal problem was solved during 70s..

During this kind of crises Engineering Vehicles came into play..
The Vehicle are in command EME (Electrical & Mechanical Engineers)..

DRDO has developed a wheel based universal bridging system to overcome obstacles or varied nature at remote/hostile locations, capable of carrying MLC-70 traffic. It features state of the art trestle-cum-span bridge. A single span bridge can cover a width of 15 to 20 meters and a multi-span bridge can cover upto 100 meters, providing a roadway of 4 meters. The bridge could be launched/recovered from either end in 15 to 20 minutes.

The T-72 Bridge Layer Tank is designed & developed by CVRDE and R&DE (Engineers) and is one of the world's most advanced bridging systems fitted on a medium tank. It has the option to carry a 20-metre MLC 60 scissors bridge or a 22-metre 70 MLC scissors bridge. As per the 2002-03 report published by the Ministry of Defence, the first limited series production order of 12 vehicles was placed by the Indian Army and six vehicles were ready for delivery.

The Bridge Layer Tank (BLT), mounted on a T-55 tank chassis, at the EME (Electrical & Mechanical Engineers) Equipment Display on 21 November 2004 in Hyderabad.

Amphibious Floating Bridge

The Armoured Amphibious Dozer has been developed to meet the requirements of Army engineers and is a BMP-2 ICV with its turret removed and extensive modifications carried out to its hull to enable it to undertake its new mission. It can plow deeper in canals so that BMP & T-72 can swim across.

This system has been developed by DRDO and has already been inducted in to the Indian Armed Forces. The system ensures smooth movement of tracked as well as wheeled vehicles over difficult terrain. The MAT is an assemble of extruded aluminium alloy planks interlocked to form a standard length of 50 meters, roused into a spool and mounted on TATRA 815 chassis supplied by BEML. The mat and laying assembly can be mounted on other chassis too.

Besides All IA tracked Vehicles can cross 5-6m deep canals..
BMP can go anywhere!

T-72/90/55 & ArjunMK-1 all can go 2m shallow Fording..

 

[keshtopatel]

I think this hovercraft thingy is too exotic, our tanks and IFV's are already capable of fording/ have amphibious capability. Even Namcia has proved amphibious capability.

Its a sheer speed of hovercrafts (45 knots) that makes it ideal candidate for naval rescue mission, while Namica is amphibious, but its role is different.

 

[Yusuf]

Kunal yes we have our engineers and good bridge making capability for armour movement but we are talking about crossing canals etc at a fair clip and toying with the idea of how useful a hovercraft would be.

 

[nitesh]

Its a sheer speed of hovercrafts (45 knots) that makes it ideal candidate for naval rescue mission, while Namica is amphibious, but its role is different.

What exactly you are trying to say?

 

[Kunal Biswas]

toying with the idea of how useful a hovercraft would be.

Only for Recce..

 

[Yusuf]

Can't we have 125mm gun on it?? The thing that changes is from tracked movement to a cushioned. I think it can be armored, I think in the plains a hovercraft would provide good speed too as well as move over water bodies without having to wait for any bridge making and slowing movement down.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

..........................................................

 

[Rahul92]

A 155 mm self-propelled howitzer variant of the Arjun (labelled 'Bhima') has been prototyped by fitting the South African Denel T6 turret, which comes with the G5 howitzer to the Arjun chassis. This project has been delayed as Denel has become embroiled in a corruption scandal in India, and hence the Indian Ministry of Defence has suspended the Bhim.
WOW WAT GREAT POLITICIANS & MORE GREAT OFFICIALS WE HAVE:angry_6:

 

[Kunal Biswas]

43rd armored regiment

 

[Rahul92]

Kunal yes we have our engineers and good bridge making capability for armour movement but we are talking about crossing canals etc at a fair clip and toying with the idea of how useful a hovercraft would be.

A comparative trial was conducted by the Indian Army in March 2010, in which the Arjun was pitted against the Indian T-90. The trial pitted one squadron of Arjuns against an equal number of T-90s. Each squadron was given three tactical tasks; each involved driving across 50 kilometres of desert terrain and then shooting at a set of targets. Each tank had to fire at least 10 rounds, stationary and on the move, with each hit being carefully logged. In total, each tank drove 150 km and fired between 30-50 rounds. The trials also checked the tanks' ability to drive through a water channel 5-6 feet deep(CORRECT IF I AM WRONG)

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Some raw HD vid..
Must watch..

 

[Rage]

I like this video of the Arjun tank - includes some excellent footage of its calibration at Tamil Nadu: