reminder that Arjun chassey and overall design characteristics were made for Leopard-2's 1500 bhp
MTU MB 873 Ka-501 but weimerican arm-twisting and embargo on it resulted in us getting this alternative combo of 1400 bhp
MTU MB 838 Ka-501 with Renk RK-304S transmission system - engine was originally meant for Leopard-1 upgrade program (some even say it was originally a truck engine
) and transmission was originally meant for M48 and M60 tanks upgrade program
thus we essentially got a less powerful and essentially a jugadu thing for our massive Leopard-2 like MBT here
I believe the weimerican arm-twisting happened not because of engine but because of transmission system because same
Renk HSWL-295 transmission system that went on with Leopard-2's MB-873 Ka-501 was also used in other NAFO tanks like Challenger-2, Leclerc, M1 Abrams (perhaps in future as some of these got developed etc) so they did not want us non-aligned soyjet lapdogs back then to get our hands on it or whatever