Indian Army Armored Vehicles

[Kunal Biswas]

Those are proders to poke and probe the ground for mines and contaminations...

Probe use for detection of mine ? what kind of mines ?

 

[Ray]

Warsaw Pact doctrine in Europe was to bypass points of strong NATO resistance, so there is a precedent. Your putting chem contamination on top of a minefield is an interesting hypothetical problem, but commanders don't put soldiers' lives at risk for no good reason.



Not in the US Army for an NBC recon mission. Not the doctrine, not the reason the equipment was developed. Russian and US NBC recon vehicles deploy contamination markers by controls inside the vehicle. Why do you want Indian soldiers not to have protection?

What is your military specialty and rank, if I may ask?

The recon team has to come out if they are to check and mark on the Ditch cum Bund type of area or in very congested subcontinental villages. They will obviously have protective NBC gear.

Running along a substantial part of the 523-km Punjab border is the dcb (ditch-cum-bund), known in local parlance as the 'defence ' .

For the villages precariously stationed between the dcb and the border fence, it is a great psychological boost. In the event of cross-border aggression, the villagers say, they have only to retire behind the 'defence ' for safety. The fence itself, floodlit at night, is no barrier to armoured vehicles but could delay them by a vital minute or two in an offensive.
Running near-parallel to the IB (international border), the dcb is an effective anti-tank barrier, tough to breach. To cross the deep water-filled ditch, the enemy will have to deploy bridge-laying tanks. The high bund bordering the ditch is riddled with fully-manned bunkers and behind, anti-tank weaponry is ready and waiting.

Several km behind is the secondary dcb, with identical bunkers. Between the two are a series of scattered underground bunkers, barely visible even from ground level, completely invisible from air. At the moment, unseasonal rains have created another natural barrier by flooding the already water-logged paddy fields running alongside the IB. 'It's not campaign season. Armoured vehicles would find it a bit tough to negotiate fields where even men sink knee-deep into slush, ' said one of the 'men-in-black ' (armoured corps).

Deployment is greater in the Khemkaran and Hussainwala sectors, south of Wagah, where the Pakistani army penetrated in '65, grabbing a big chunk of Ferozepur. It was only by destroying the bridge across the Sutlej and flooding the area that their advance was halted. In Khemkaran lies the famous Sehjra bulge, a bulb-shaped portion of Pakistan thrusting into Indian territory. Heavily fortified on both sides, it's bound to be one of the hottest trouble-spots in Punjab during a conflict. Intense Pakistani troop movement was observed here on May 28/29 and June 10/11. On June 17, radio intercepts by military intelligence indicated a possible attack here at 3.30 a.m. It didn't materialise.

Well-connected by road and rail, Khemkaran is strategically located. The Pakistani Sehjra observation tower, manned round the clock, looks directly into the town. Peering through binoculars from a bsf OP, one is eyeball-to-eyeball with the Pakistani Rangers atop the tower. On the opposing side, at varying distances from zero line, is the Pakistani dcb, shrouded in four layers of kikar trees. Through a gap in the dcb, movement of Pakistani army convoys is clearly visible.

Pakistani villages along the border"Mabokke, Bukhiwal, Shaikupura, Fattiwal, Amoke, Nagar Amin"have been vacated, leaving only a skeleton population. A similar situation prevails on the Indian side. Women, children, cattle and valuables have been moved to locations well behind the forward dcb, deposited with relatives and friends. 'The evacuation has been entirely voluntary, conducted without any panic or haste, in an orderly fashion, ' said SP (Operations) Anita Sinha.

www.outlookindia.com |

This is from a Sri Lankan publication.

Role of SL Infantry - Overcoming the ditch cum bund obstacle. The SL forces suffered over 26,000 killed in the conflict and of them 90% were from the Infantry. The contribution of the infantry to the victory of the forces needs no elaboration. They alone while manoeuvring in flood water conditions in pelting monsoon rains were faced with the formidable LTTE ditch (8-12 ft deep) cum bund (about 10 feet high - like a berm) obstacles in the final stages of the war. These obstacles, stretching 20-30 km in length were behind massive mine fields and were covered by LTTE weapon fire. The LTTE intended to make any attack on them too costly for the army.

The Island

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Marking Procedures

Marking warns friendly troops of contamination. Therefore, the signs are placed where they most likely will be encountered by friendly units. In rear areas the entire circumference of the hazard area may need to be marked. Individuals who find the contamination place the signs. They are placed where the contamination is detected. Adjacent signs should be within sight of each other (25 to 100 meters apart depending on terrain). This prevents units from missing the signs and entering a contaminated area. Recon elements mark the area at the point of entry. Unit survey teams are then responsible for determining and marking the extent of the contamination.

Some areas may contain more than one type of contamination or hazard. Mark these areas with the appropriate signs placed near each other. For example, if an area is both chemically and radiologically contaminated, both signs are used and placed near each other.

For rear areas in, around, and behind the division support area (DSA), and while in open terrain (desert, plains, rolling hills, etc.), it is possible to raise these contamination markers on poles. The poles may be camouflage support poles, extra tent poles, or any other such material. The intent is to raise the contamination marker up high enough so it can be seen for at least 200 meters. This is done so that follow-on forces and support troops can be aware of the hazard.

In these rear areas, clear areas or lanes also maybe marked for easy identification. One method of marking this lane is using the NBC contamination bypass marker depicted in figures 5-21 and 5-22.

Thanks Sir..

Very Informative..

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Armoured Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicle (AERV)

Based on the BMP-2 ICV, the Engineer Reconnaissance Vehicle (ERV) is intended to be a fully integrated system amphibious vehicle capable of acquiring, recording and transmitting combat engineer and military bridging reconnaissance data to a central command post. This enables the engineers to cross both dry and water obstacles. The ERV can provide a considerable amount of detailed information including height and slope of the river bank, load bearing capability of the soil and bed profile of the river. Equipment installed on the ERV includes a gyro land navigation system, a global positioning system, a radio navigation and guidance system, a hand held recording conpenetrometre to test soil, an electronic disomat and theodolite, a water current metre, an echo sounder, a laser rangefinder, picket driving and trail blazing equipment.

The NBC BMP & AERV looks the same but AERV lacks 30mm cannon..

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Indian Army de-mining operation
Indian army men de-mine an agriculture land with heavy machines at Palaanwala, India-Pakistan Line of control (LOC) in Akhnoor sector, about 61 km from the northern Indian city of Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmir on 16 February 2010.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

 

[bhramos]

i see lot of Arjun Tanks on the way to Hyderabad from Chennai on road carrying on civilian trucks

 

[Kunal Biswas]

i see lot of Arjun Tanks on the way to Hyderabad from Chennai on road carrying on civilian trucks

Interesting..

Most probably MK1s..

 

[Bhadra]

Pakistan: Defense Canals in South Punjab and Sindh-II (Rahim Yar Khan)

Perspectives: Pakistan: Defense Canals in South Punjab and Sindh-II (Rahim Yar Khan)

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Tanks for Swim..

 

[K Factor]

These would be used to prod the ground for mines just next (almost) touching the vehicle.

You, on the other hand, are quite ignorant on almost every subject you pontificate about, and insist on arguing with your betters and those much more knowledgeable than you. That you haven't been permanently removed from this forum continues to be a mystery to me.

I think he provides some good comic relief in serious threads, and that is why the mods don't remove him

 

[Kesang]

Re: Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT)

Did we brought any ATGM for our T-90 and t-72?

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Re: Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT)

Did we brought any ATGM for our T-90 and t-72?

3UBK20

The control system is semi-automatic, jamming invulnerable, by a laser beam.


The firing of 3UBK20 is performed with smoothbore gun 2A45 of systems 9K118 and D81 of tanks T-72C, T-80U, T-90C both in a stationary position and when moving. The temperature range during combat use is from +50°C to −50°C.

 

[Equanimity]

Defexpo India 2012 international defence exhibition

IMHO, those are certainly not mine prodders. Why would they require 60 prodders for a crew of 4?

From the colour of flags (red and yellow) as shown in the scale model above, they appear to be flag poles that can be driven into ground by remote(from within the vehicle) means(spark plug sort of arrangement).

Probably, based on the levels of radiation/ contamination, the recce vehicle is required to mark the boundaries of such area, for indication to other ground troops and these flags are used for that purpose without putting the crew themselves at risk or just to save time.

 

[sayareakd]

IMHO, those are certainly not mine prodders. Why would they require 60 prodders for a crew of 4?

From the colour of flags (red and yellow) as shown in the scale model above, they appear to be flag poles that can be driven into ground by remote(from within the vehicle) means(spark plug sort of arrangement).

Probably, based on the levels of radiation/ contamination, the recce vehicle is required to mark the boundaries of such area, for indication to other ground troops and these flags are used for that purpose without putting the crew themselves at risk or just to save time.

check this

Defence Research & Development Organization (DRDO) has already delivered more than 35 state-of-the-art products and systems for NBC Defence, to the Armed Forces, of the production value of Rs. 500 crores. Four NBC Recce Vehicles were handed over by Dr. W Selvamurthy, Distinguished Scientist & Chief Controller Research & Development (Life Sciences), DRDO HQrs to Lt Gen MC Badhani, VSM, Engineer-in-Chief, Indian Army during a flagging-off ceremony held today, the 21st December 2010 at 1500 hrs at Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL), Pune. Shri Ashwani Kumar Datt, Chairman and Managing Director, BEL and Shri RK Jain, Addl. Director General Ordnance Factory Board also flagged off the vehicle.

These vehicles based on BMP-II are equipped to monitor radiologically and chemically contaminated areas. Various sensors such as Roentgenometer, Gas Chromatograph, Dosimeter, Solid State Anemometer and Chemical Sensor are integrated on to this vehicle. Vehicle provides protection to the crew while monitoring for NBC contaminants and also allows to fix flag marks without the need for crew to come out from the protected vehicles. NBC Recce Vehicles have been designed and developed by DRDO with its Defence Lab, Jodhpur as nodal agency and Vehicle Research & Development Establishment (VRDE), Research & Development Establishment (Engineers) (R&DE(E), Defence Research & Development Establishment (DRDE) and Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) (all DRDO labs) as the other major work centers. These BMP IIK have been manufactured at Ordnance Factory, Medak and NBC instruments are integrated by BEL, Pune. As four vehicles along with the training module and 2 Nos of NBC Control Centre were already supplied to the Army earlier, this marks the completion of Limited Series Production (LSP) order of eight recce vehicles. Army has also placed order for sixteen more NBC Recce vehicles.

Read more: DRDO hands over 4 NBC RECCE vehicles to Indian Army - Frontier India - News, Analysis, Opinion - Frontier India - News, Analysis, Opinion

 

[Austin]

Covering Fire

Pace of acquisition and modernisation of tanks need to be hastened
FORCE September

By Atul Chandra
On May 1, the Indian Army (IA) celebrated its 71st Armour Day, marking the day when Scindia Horse became the first regiment in the IA to convert to Vickers light tanks and Chevrolet armoured cars. Though questions have been raised on the relevance of the Main Battle Tank (MBT) in the present-day battlefield, the tank with its mobility and firepower has proved its usefulness in combat zones all over the world, time and time again. However, seven decades on, the IA's armoured modernisation plans lie in a shambles with large parts of the fleet obsolescent and lacking in capability to fight a war in the modern battlefield.

The IA's armoured regiments are equipped almost exclusively with Russian era T-72M and T-90S MBT and insignificant numbers of the indigenous Arjun Mk-1. The T-90S will be the core of the armoured regiments with upgrades to enhance its combat performance and survivability. The IA has ordered a total of 1,657 tanks of which 1,000 will be built at Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) Avadi. Approximately 200 T-90S tanks have been assembled at HVF till date and production is expected to be ramped up to 100 units a month over the next couple of years. This will mean that the IA would have inducted its entire fleet of T-90S tanks only by the end of this decade.

The indigenous assembly of the T-90S suffered significant delays of just over half a decade because Russia refused to complete the promised Transfer of Technology (ToT) related to gun barrels and armour plates to HVF.However, despite all the hiccups the T-90S remains a potent MBT, keeping in mind the capability of potential adversaries in the region. The Army has lined up a number of improvements and upgrades to maintain its combat effectiveness. An Active Protection System (APS) and improved Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) will be fitted to the tank and this will substantially enhance the tank's survivability. The need for such protection has been demonstrated in many conflicts including the clash between Israeli Merkava 4 tanks and Hezbollah troops in 2006. The Hezbollah's innovative use of Russian wire-guided and laser-guided anti-tank missiles, including the Kornet, AT-14 damaged and destroyed a number of Merkava 4 tanks (the Merkava is said to have excellent crew protection). The anti-tank missiles used double phased explosive warheads.

An improved commander's thermal sight will also be fitted. Thales of France supplied the Catherine FC thermal imagers (TI) that will be assembled at Dehradun by Ordinance Factory Board's (OFB) Opto-Electronics factory. However, to cater for the excessive heat during desert operations which resulted in the sights being rendered inoperable, an environmental control system will be installed. An Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) will also be installed to provide sufficient power to run the environmental control system and keep the electronics running while the tank is stationary with the engine switched off. However, the limited space available on the tank makes the addition of the APU and cooling system a difficult task. Upgrades to the Fire Control System (FCS) are also being planned.


In addition to these, a digital control harness and Software Defined Radio (SDR) will also feature in improved versions of the T-90S. But the case for the digital control harness, which is used for communication inside the tank, has run into trouble with accusations being levelled at each other by competitors. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Larsen and Toubro (L&T) were the two companies shortlisted for the order of 6,698 digital control harnesses for the Army's armoured vehicles. Addition of the SDR will enable secure communication and allow voice, data and radio communication. Presently, voice, data networks, radio communications are not interoperable to desired degree within the services. Current and legacy solid state radio sets differ in frequency bands, wave forms and secrecy algorithms. SDR will allow common standards and protocols to come for enhanced interoperability.

An important part of the armoured modernisation programme is the large numbers of ageing T-72M tanks that the Army has decided to upgrade in an effort to keep them relevant into the year 2020 and beyond. The large numbers of tanks in service with the attendant support and training infrastructure means that the Army cannot have them replaced with a more modern type despite calls to have the far superior Arjun Mk2 replace the oldest T-72s. The T-72 has served well and nearly 1,700 are still in service. However, maintenance and reliability rates have dropped and the tank is now increasingly maintenance intensive. Modernising the T-72 has also meant that the tank is now heavier by a substantial margin and will see its existing engine being replaced by a more powerful engine - 1000 shp V92S2 from the T-90. Summer trials were conducted last year and the upgrade will be done in stages.

Other upgrades in terms of night sights, FCS, navigation systems, radios etc. will also be done. Also added will be digital control harness and improved fire suppression system and improved Nuclear Biological Chemical (NBC) capability as on the T-90. Obtaining and stocking the required ammunition for both the T-90 and T-72 have proved to be problematic and is a situation that needs to be rectified. A recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report stated that Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) failed to develop required ammunition. The rounds were being imported even after 15 years. Last year, the Army had approved accelerated user trials with 500 rounds of the improved ammunition. A similar case occurred when a requirement arose for the development of a training version of the Fin Stabilised Armor Piercing Discarding Sabot (FSAPDS) ammunition was sanctioned in August 1996 to be completed by August 1998. The project was closed in December 2003, without the practice ammunition being accepted by the Army.

Surprisingly, ARDE claimed the ammunition to be successful in trial evaluation; an opinion the Army did not share. According to the CAG report in 2009, ARDE accepted the limitations of the practice ammunition it had developed and stated that the new technology established in the project will be utilised for development of practice ammunition for T-90 and Arjun tanks. Indigenously developed ammunition produced at OFB factories have also performed poorly resulting in the import of ammunition. The Army was forced to call for tenders in late 2010 for 75,000-100,000 rounds of FSAPDS (AMK-339) ammunition.

The Arjun Mk-2 is currently undergoing user trials in Pokhran, based on which the Army will confirm orders for 116 Mk-2 tanks. The Mk-2 will see an increase in weight from 62-67 tonne. This is as a result of addition of ERA panels, APS and track width mine plough. The 1,500 shp MTU engine with RENK transmission has been retained as it is proven in Indian conditions. The Mk-2 will also feature missile firing capability and a remote controlled weapon system atop the turret. It will also feature an improved commander's panoramic sight with night vision, hunter killer capability between the commander, gunner and loader. These will also reduce the wear and tear on the barrel during training. In terms of protection, the Mk-2 will have full-frontal ERA and will use the same structuring as on the T series tanks.

DRDO is redeveloping the explosive element (Russian) with better protection capability and it is being developed at High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL). This will be used across Arjun, T-90 and T-72 and represent a significant foreign exchange saving when used across all three platforms. Active Protection Systems that use a laser warning system will also be incorporated on the Mk-2. The Israeli 'Trophy' system is being considered for the Mk-2. An APU generating in excess of 8 KW of power, almost double of that present in the Mk-1, is being fitted. While the Arjun Mk-2 with all improvements will cost approximately Rs 34 crores, many of the features available on the Mk-2 are not available on the T-90.

The Indian Army's armour acquisition and upgrade programme is beset with delays and procurement snafus. There is also the issue of HVF Avadi simply unable to cope with the requirements of overhaul and upgrade of T-72M and assembly of T-90S tanks. Another issue is that with enough orders on hand for the T-90 there is no incentive for HVF to focus on the small numbers of Arjun tanks ordered, or invest in improving the quality of the Arjun tanks manufactured. This is a double-edged sword for the Arjun programme as lack of quality control results in the user not placing more orders and lack of orders prevents the programme from reaching economies of scale and investing in quality measures. Upgrading the Army's newest T-72 tanks means that the enormous infrastructure that exists for the T-72 can be put to good use. For the Indian Army, more than four decades of using Russian tanks is a hard bond to break. It will continue to field close to 3,000 upgraded T-72 and T-90 MBTs for the next two decades. The T-90s will, of course, go on to serve till 2030 and beyond.

While the T-90 will be the backbone of the armoured tank fleet in the years to come various aspects of its performance have been questioned and product support remains a bugbear. What is surprising, however, is that while the Indian Army has staunchly stood by the T-90, Chief of Russian Ground Forces Col Gen. Alexander Postnikov expressed his unhappiness with the performance of the T-90. In an unprecedented public outburst earlier this year, he called it the '17th modification of the T-72' and suggested that 'Russia spend the Rbs 118 million (USD 4 million) per tank to buy three German Leopard MBTs instead.

In 2011, the Russian Defence Ministry stopped purchase of T-90 tanks in view of its high price. Another Russian newspaper report later cautioned against acquiring imported tanks, stating that "By purchasing foreign military equipment, we automatically become dependent on its producers, ranging from training of personnel to delivery of spare parts that are easily damaged, and in whose absence this equipment becomes useless scrap metal." Keeping that statement in mind, it is imperative that the upgrades to the Army's tank fleet are completed in as short a time-frame as possible to ensure that the combat edge of the armoured regiments is retained. More importantly, work on the Future Main Battle Tank (FMBT) must be taken up as a national project to ensure that a replacement is ready to fill the gap in force levels as the bulk of the T-72 tanks start to retire.

 

[bhramos]

Concord 8 (C8) Lightweight Armoured Vehicle, India

Concord 8 (C8) Lightweight Armoured Vehicle - Army Technology

 

[Kunal Biswas]

These were under test not operational yet..

 

[cobra commando]

Concord 8 (C8) Lightweight Armoured Vehicle, India

Concord 8 (C8) Lightweight Armoured Vehicle - Army Technology

This thing atleast looks much better then the mahindra marksman,pop in a APS/RCWS & voila! dunno what exactly is IA looking for in these kinda vehicle's,even the AXE got axed..wonder how many more years the good old faithfull gypsy will serve..

 

[Kunal Biswas]