The Need to Revive the Arjun Tank Project IDRW.ORG
On paper Arjun stands out quite impressive with composite armour, frequency hopping radios, ability to fire ATGMs from its main gun, but that is all on paper. In reality the Arjun is another example of cost overruns, smudged specifications and red tape. Indians it seems don’t want to learn from the experiences of others even when the lesson is obvious. When the Merkava-1 failed to live up to expectations the Israelis did not dump it and go for more M60 tanks, instead it persisted with the development of newer variants and now it has a tank that is not only world class but is completely Israeli made. India on the other hand is content to buy Russian tanks.
While India loses the opportunity to make an indigenous tank, the Pakistanis have already taken Al-Khalid into production and now are talking of exporting it. A few tanks were even sent to Saudi Arabia for evaluations. Sri Lanka almost bought 22 Al-Khalids before the finish of the Tamil war led to a reduction in defence spending. While the Pakistanis are gaining valuable experience on tank manufacture India is still debating on Arjun vs. T-90. In a few years Pakistan will be on the verge of self reliance in MBT technology while India will still be finding its feet in this area.
With the Russians getting more and more unreliable every day the need for reducing our dependence on them has become even greater. But sadly it seems that no steps are being taken in this regard. During the last trials, every soldier who got experience on the Arjun vouched for it. It proved to be capable of conducting operations in the Thar Desert flawlessly. But still the army wants to have no more than 124 tanks.
What needs to be done is an immediate ramp of production capability for the Arjun with a minimum capacity of no less than 150 tanks per year. This figure may seem astronomical by current standards but if India is to maintain a fleet of indigenous 2000 tanks, it will have to get working on ramping up the production and support infrastructure first. Simultaneously, the Army needs to come with a final specification list for the current Arjun which should be frozen. The future needs of the Army should be passed to the next Arjun iteration and the current Mk2 model should be pressed into production at once. This way the Army will have a tank and also have its future needs catered to.
Further India would do well to acquire production rights for Engines, night vision devices and tank ammunition. The expenses proposed in this document may look huge but if the Air Force deserves $10 Billion for the MMRCA, even the Army can’t do without its battle tanks
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