Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT)

[keshtopatel]

What exactly you are trying to say?

Just as I said previousely - quick rescue operation.

 

[keshtopatel]

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.

Correct!

Armament: Strela-3 Portable Air Defense Missile System 4 x 4 launchers plus 32 Anti-Personnel missiles; or 2 SA-N-5 "Grail" quad launchers, manual aiming, infared homing to 6 km at 1.5 Mach, altitude to 2,500 m, warhead 1.5 kg
30 mm AK-630 Air Defense Gun Mount 2 x 6 with 6000 rounds, 3,000 rounds/min combined to 2 km
140 mm Ogon launchers 2 x 22 with 132 rockets; or 2 retractable 122mm rocket launchers
Mines (one set of removable equipment for laying from 20 to 80 mines, depending on their types)

 

[keshtopatel]

Only for Recce..

See the bigger picture:

 

[nitesh]

Just as I said previousely - quick rescue operation.

What to rescue? Can't get head and tail of what u r saying

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Correct!

Armament: Strela-3 Portable Air Defense Missile System 4 x 4 launchers plus 32 Anti-Personnel missiles; or 2 SA-N-5 "Grail" quad launchers, manual aiming, infared homing to 6 km at 1.5 Mach, altitude to 2,500 m, warhead 1.5 kg
30 mm AK-630 Air Defense Gun Mount 2 x 6 with 6000 rounds, 3,000 rounds/min combined to 2 km
140 mm Ogon launchers 2 x 22 with 132 rockets; or 2 retractable 122mm rocket launchers
Mines (one set of removable equipment for laying from 20 to 80 mines, depending on their types)

125MM cannon cannot be operated on any hovercraft coz of its massive blowback and turret weigh issue, Russian hovercraft is more than displaced 150ton it can accommodate two AK-630s and RL coz of its light weight and low blow back compare to a tank gun with fully a big turret..

What to rescue? Can't get head and tail of what u r saying

Coast guard do have hovercraft for the search and rescue operations..

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Indian Arjun MK-1 MBT

(Photo at left: Mahajan Ranges, Rajasthan, 29th June 2006. Major General BS Grewal, GOC 33 Armoured Division, posing with his target after firing two rounds from an Arjun tank. The holes made by the armour piercing rounds are visible in the upper part of the bulls-eye. With Gen Grewal is Maj Gen HM Singh, the officer who has spearheaded the Arjun's development for 28 years)

India's own Arjun tank is finally proving its worth. Despite continuing criticism from an army establishment that judges the Arjun far more strictly than foreign purchases like the T-90, the Arjun is successfully completing a gruelling 5000-kilometre trial in the Rajasthan desert. During six months of trials, the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO), along with tank crews from the army's 43 Armoured Regiment, have proved not just the Arjun's endurance, but also the ability of its computer-controlled gun to consistently blow away suitcase-sized targets placed more than a kilometre away.

The army's Directorate General of Mechanised Forces (DGMF), which must eventually okay the tank, is not impressed but key decision-makers are rallying behind the Arjun. The head of the Pune-based Southern Command, Lieutenant General N Thamburaj, strongly backs the Arjun. On a visit to the Mahajan Field Firing Ranges in Rajasthan to watch his troops exercising, Lt Gen Thamburaj noticed the Arjun firing nearby. After walking across, he was invited by the DRDO team to drive and fire the tank. Half an hour later, the general was an Arjun backer; two holes in the target he aimed at testified that a soldier without previous experience operating tanks could get into the Arjun and use it effectively.

Business Standard has evidence of many more such incidents. On 29th June 2006, the commander of the elite 31 Armoured Division, Major General BS Grewal, visited the Mahajan Ranges along with a colleague, Major General Shiv Jaswal. Both drove and fired the Arjun for the first time that day; the two rounds that each fired punched holes through targets almost two kilometres away. (see picture)

That same month, 43 Armoured Regiment, which is the first army tank unit equipped with the Arjun, pronounced itself delighted with the Arjun's firing performance. After firing trials in summer 2006, 43 Armoured Regiment endorsed, "The accuracy and consistency of the Arjun has been proved beyond doubt."

But the establishment was quick to strike back. Barely three months after that report, the commanding officer of 43 Armoured Regiment, Colonel D Thakur, was confronted by then Director General of Mechanised Forces, Lt Gen DS Shekhawat. Eyewitnesses describe how he was upbraided for "not conducting the trials properly". But in a career-threatening display of professional integrity, Colonel Thakur's brigade commander, Brigadier Chandra Mukesh, intervened to insist that the trials had been conducted correctly.

In a series of interviews with the army, including the present Director General of Mechanised Forces, Lt Gen D Bhardwaj, and with the MoD top brass, Business Standard has learned that opposition to the Arjun remains deeply entrenched. This despite the soldiers of 43 Armoured Regiment declaring that if it came to war, they would like to be in an Arjun.

Minister of State for Defence Production, Rao Inderjeet Singh recounts, "I've spoken, off the record, to officers who have gone through the trials. Even the crews (from 43 Armoured Regiment)"¦ who have been testing the tank"¦ I forced them to choose between the Russian tanks and the Arjun. I said, you've driven this tank and you've driven that tank (the T-90). Now mark them out of ten, which tank is better? And I've found that the Arjun tank was given more numbers than the T-90 tank."

With new confidence, the Arjun's developer, the Central Vehicles R&D Establishment (CVRDE), is arguing strongly for "comparative trials", in which the Arjun would be pitted head-to-head, in identical conditions, with the army's T-90 and T-72 tanks. But the DGMF continues to resist any such face-off.

Broadsword: The Arjun tank acquires a growing fan club

 

[nitesh]

Coast guard do have hovercraft for the search and rescue operations..

Kunal saar i know that, but was wondering where exactly this poster is coming from to put hover craft in middle of tank battles

 

[keshtopatel]

125MM cannon cannot be operated on any hovercraft coz of its massive blowback and turret weigh issue, Russian hovercraft is more than displaced 150ton it can accommodate two AK-630s and RL coz of its light weight and low blow back compare to a tank gun with fully a big turret..

You are saying a apx 300 tonnes hovercraft with the capacity of carrying 250 people and 30 cars can not accomodate 124mm gun? whereas an army tank of 50 tonnes can?


Whats wrong here.....

Think again.....

 

[keshtopatel]

was wondering where exactly this poster is coming from to put hover craft in middle of tank battles

Well, you are talking too on the same:

I think this hovercraft thingy is too exotic, our tanks and IFV's are already capable

May be you forgot!

Just as you did here:

PS: I am sorry I have missed that portion of BrahMos corp saying it can not be launched from torpedo tube please help me out with that

But dont worry, these things happen all the time......

 

[Kunal Biswas]

You are saying a apx 300 tonnes hovercraft with the capacity of carrying 250 people and 30 cars can not accomodate 124mm gun? whereas an army tank of 50 tonnes can?
Whats wrong here.....
Think again.....

Read my post again, It was mentioned abt the blow-back and weight of the turret..
CARS & TANKS are placed in a very stable position, A 125mm blast can move a 70 tons and we are taking abt a hovercraft which hovers....
Russians know better than anyone, thats the reason they put only AK-630 ( 30MM gas-operated Gatling gun )....

Btw, Drop the topic abt hovercraft in ARJUN thread, OPEN a new thread on possibilities of hovercrafts present and future..

 

[nitesh]

Well, you are talking too on the same:



May be you forgot!

Just as you did here:


on't bring
But dont worry, these things happen all the time......

Don't bring unnecessary things here, I am still not getting what are you trying to convey to me

 

[Kunal Biswas]

 

[nitesh]

 

[sayareakd]

Arjun with level of protection and firepower deserves to be in that list.

 

[nitesh]

1,500-horsepower FMBT to replace T-72 tanks beyond 2020
T.S. Subramanian
First prototype of indigenous engine to be ready in four to five years



CHENNAI: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is working on India's future main battle tank (FMBT) with a 1,500-horsepower (HP) indigenous engine. This tank will replace beyond 2020 the imported T-72 tanks, renamed Ajeya, with the Army. Various specifications for the FMBT have been finalised.

"For engine development, we have formed a national team comprising members from the academia, the user, industry and the DRDO. We have also gone in for an international consultant," said S. Sundaresh, Chief Controller (Armaments and Combat Engineering), DRDO. The first prototype of the indigenous engine would be ready in four to five years.

The DRDO is launching a project to develop the transmission for the tank; the indigenous engine and transmission will together be called Bharat Power Pack and it will meet the FMBT's mobility requirements.

"We are confident that we will be ready with the FMBT prototype in five to seven years," Mr. Sundaresh said. "We are trying to involve all the stakeholders — the user [the Army], quality control personnel and the production agency — in this project and the industry will be our partner. We will go for a modular design so that we can always upgrade the tank when new technology comes in."

The FMBT will weigh only 50 tonnes compared to Arjun-Mark II's 62 tonnes. The DRDO is simultaneously working on Arjun-Mark II. The volume occupied by the electronics package in the FMBT will be less. The FMBT's engine will be two-thirds the size of Arjun-Mark I's, but will generate 1,500 HP compared to Arjun-Mark I's 1,400 HP.

Improved technologies

Improvements in material, fuel injection and filtration technologies will contribute to the reduction in the engine size without compromising on power.

"The immediate task for the CVRDE [Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment] is to develop the Arjun-Mk II tank and demonstrate it to the user and go for the production of 124 numbers in the HVF (Heavy Vehicles Factory]," Mr. Sundaresh said. The CVRDE and the HVF are situated in Avadi, near Chennai.

The Arjun-Mk II tank will have a number of upgrades compared with Arjun-Mk I. Missiles can be fired from the former to destroy long-range targets and bring down attack helicopters. The tank's commander will have a panoramic sight with night vision. "With this upgrade, the commander can carry out his hunting job at night with his thermal sight and engage targets more effectively," Mr. Sundaresh explained.

Another upgrade will see the introduction of an explosive reactive armour panel which will comprise explosives in metallic brick form. These bricks will be mounted not only on the front slope of Arjun-Mk-II tank, but all round it as well. When the enemy ammunition hits these bricks, they will explode and retard the energy of the projectile, which then cannot penetrate the tank's armour.

"The penalty for using these bricks is that they will add 1.5 tonnes to the tank's weight. But we can prevent top attack and side attack. We can add to the tank's protection from missiles and rocket-propelled grenades," the DRDO Chief Controller said.

Automatic target tracking

The fourth upgrade is that Arjun Mk-II will have an automatic target tracking system which will add to the accuracy when firing on a moving target.

P. Sivakumar, CVRDE Director, said Arjun-Mk-II would have a total of 93 upgrades, including the advanced air defence gun system for firing at attack helicopters. The Army had placed an indent for production of 124 Arjun-Mk II tanks.

In phase I, 45 tanks will roll out with 56 upgrades, including the missile firing capability and the commander's panoramic sight with night vision.

In phase II, the remaining 79 tanks, with all the 93 improvements, will come off the assembly line. "By 2013-14, the first batch of around 30 tanks will go out," Dr. Sivakumar said.

According to Mr. Sundaresh, these 124 Arjun-Mk II tanks would cost Rs.5,000 crores.

 

[plugwater]

I thought MK-II will have an indigenous 1500 HP engine. So we are again going to Germans for the engine of MK-II ?

n phase I, 45 tanks will roll out with 56 upgrades, including the missile firing capability and the commander's panoramic sight with night vision.

In phase II, the remaining 79 tanks, with all the 93 improvements, will come off the assembly line. "By 2013-14, the first batch of around 30 tanks will go out," Dr. Sivakumar said.

This is a very good news. I was expecting only the prototype to roll out by 2014.

 

[jackal4me]

Avadi is in chennai.

 

[san]

"124 Arjun-Mk II tanks would cost Rs.5,000 crores" : each tank will cost 40 crores. That is too much for a tank

 

[sayareakd]

"124 Arjun-Mk II tanks would cost Rs.5,000 crores" : each tank will cost 40 crores. That is too much for a tank

it is cheap compare to fact that export tanks from any nation are degraded version, not top of the line. Plus so many restrictions and worse all the data is with foreigners. No such restrictions on Arjun tank.

 

[smartindian]

"124 Arjun-Mk II tanks would cost Rs.5,000 crores" : each tank will cost 40 crores. That is too much for a tank

it a life time cost, (cost of spares, maintenance, up gradation, tank-simulators logistics to transportion of tanks ext).
next generation tank which we are designing will cost 25 crore a unit (without any spare and maintenance cost)