Another defect in Arjun

[HAIDER]

NEW DELHI, AUG 13 (PTI)

Mobility and other defects in German supplied engines came to fore recently in country's main battle tank Arjun but these had been rectified, Defence Minister A K Antony said today.

Some mobility defects had been noticed in the tanks during recent field trials and these related to failure of piston rods of Hydro Penumatic Suspension System, the Minister said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

He informed the House that the cause of the defect had been analysed and corrective action taken.

The tanks, Antony said, had also reported defects of premature warming of air filter of German supplied MTU838 KA501 engines powering the tanks.

"These too have been rectified in consultations with specialists from the German firm," he said.

Arjun tanks are soon to undergo comparative tests against Russian supplied T-90 and T-72 tanks which would pave the way for their large-scale induction in the army.

Though the Government has so far sanctioned commercial production of 124 Arjun tanks, so far only 14 had been handed over to army for trials.

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http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=495382

 

[Bull]

Defects solved is the title....!!!

 

[joey]

Yeah german engine deffect, great but Didnt We know this already what was the actual case? Please refer to the MOD report, Thank you.

 

[HAIDER]

still a trial version...? how many years is been sitting in defence lab?

 

[joey]

still a trial version...? how many years is been sitting in defence lab?

Developement and Trials are a part of system, Mechanical modifications are quite hard to carry out the reason just to replace a simple actuator which if one does not has expertise in can render the whole system useless rather than replace some other things.

the whole reason of the Army taking the Arjun for a joy ride was to test its robustness, the fault was in some of its LRU's of the temperature mark being set to 50 instead of 60, they needed to re-set the thing as it came with 50 from the OEM manufacturers in private field.

 

[Awesome]

"Oops it did it again." Throw it away already.

 

[Marathaman]

"Oops it did it again." Throw it away already.

You'd love that wouldn't you. Bet you dream about it each night.

 

[Awesome]

Lol on the contrary I hope India speeds up its Arjun development by spending billions and billions of dollars more . Seriously think about it, you guys can make a big-*** star wars like fighting machine which fires lasers and fireballs from its butt.

YOU CAN DO IT!

 

[PakSniper]

You'd love that wouldn't you. Bet you dream about it each night.

What's the point of dreaming, if its actually happening in front of us.

 

[aksingh]

Don't worry we got lotsa money to throw around.. LOL.. better build an inferior product than beg others...

 

[Keysersoze]

INDIA’S HOMEGROWN TANK UNDER QUESTION
By Bulbul Singh

14 May 07. Even as the first batch of 14 homegrown Main Battle Tanks, Arjun, are delivered to the Indian Army, the Select Committee of the Indian Parliament on Defence is critical on the delivery schedule of the tank, more then 34 years after the project was put into execution. The Indian Army has also not accepted the tank for combat purposes.

There is a shortfall of tanks within the Indian Army where the requirement is for 3500 tanks.

The 16th report of India's Standing Committee on Defence, comprising 30 senior Members of Parliament notes," The Committee are perturbed to note that the government of India accorded clearance for the development of an Indigenous Main Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun in May 1974. Even after the lapse of more than 34 years, the inordinate delay has escalated the cost of MBT Project".

The Committee further noted that the Indian Ministry of Defence should seriously think as to how to comply Arjun's requirements in a time bound manner.

An Indian Army officer said, an order for the production of 124 Arjun tanks was placed with the state owned Combat Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), in 2000 and so far only 14 tanks have been delivered, with nine tanks delivered only last month. Five Tanks were handed over to Army in 2005 and nine more Tanks delivered last week

The Army officer said in private that the Arjun tank is a "dud tank" which he said cannot be used for combat purposes.

The quality of the homegrown Arjun tank has come under a question mark even by the high powered Select Committee of Defence which has quoted oral evidence before the committee of a non-official expert. The report quotes the non-official expert as saying notes"….. I am afraid our quality control is very poor I have heard that five tanks were presented before the media, however, when the media and other people went away, the tanks were put back in the factory because still some quality checks had to be made. The biggest problem in India in respect of defence production is quality control. If China can do it, why can we not do it?"

An official of CVRDE said that the Arjun tank has been produced after exhaustive trials in the prototype stage adding that the entire consignment of the Army of 124 tanks will be completed by July 2009.

The Indian Army official however said, that there has been pressure on the Indian Army all along to accept the Arjun tank even as it has been rejected for combat purposes by the Army on earlier occasions. The Arjun weighs 58.5 tons and is significantly heavier than the Soviet tanks the Indian Army is using, which would mean millions of dollars to be spent on logistics, as the tank does not even fit into the rail wagons.

The Arjun tank is armed with a 120 mm rifled gun, it is capable of firing APFSDS (Kinetic Energy) rounds, HEAT, High Explosive Squash Head (HESH) rounds and the Israeli semi-active laser guided LAHAT missile. In addition, it is armed with a 12.7 mm AA machine gun and a 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun.

The Arjun tank has still be officially cleared for combat purposes even after the latest exercises held in the first week of May in the hot deserts of Rajasthan. Indian Army officials said in private the tank has not impressed the Indian Army

However, Indian army officials said in private that India needs to purchase advanced tanks off-the-shelf as the Arjun cannot be relied on for combat purposes and that there is a severe shortage of tanks with the Indian army.

The Indian Army is now loosing tanks faster than new inductions and there will be a severe shortage in another two to three years if the trend is not contained. Around 800 of the Russian Vijayanta tanks will be scrapped in next two to three years, and the upgrade of the existing 1600 T-72 main battle tanks is not taking off due to bureaucratic delays. In addition several aging T-72 tanks will have to be junked from existing levels of around 2700 tanks.
The Army's tank fleet includes the Russian-made T-55, T-72 and T-90, the Vijayanta and the Arjun, which still is used only for training.

There has been steady decline in budget allocation for the Indian Army notes the 16th report of the Standing Committee on Defence besides being critical of the Arjun tank project.

The Committee expresses its concern on the declining trend in the share of the army in defence budget, which was 57 per cent in the year 2002-03 and now has come down to 47 per cent in the current financial year, April 1 2007 to March 31st 2008.

Out of a total budget of $23.4bn for the financial year 2007-08 the Indian Army received a budget allocation of $11.16bn comprising 47 per cent of the total budget. In 2002-03 the percentage of the Indian Army's share was 57 per cent, it was 55 per cent in 2003-04 and has been steadily declining to 47 per cent. On the other hand there has been a rise in budget allocation for the Indian Air Force which increased its share in the total defence spending from 22 per cent in 2002-03 to 28 per cent in 2007-08, and even the Indian Navy marginally increased its share in the budget from 15 per cent in 2002-03 to 17 per cent in 2007-08 per cent.

Indian Army officials said, the purchase of 155mm guns for the Indian army, and air defence systems are urgently required for the last two years, which they say can severely affect the affect combat worthiness of the Indian Army in the years to come



http://www.battle-technology.com/this_issue11.html

 

[Bull]

The Army officer said in private that the Arjun tank is a "dud tank" which he said cannot be used for combat purposes.

Well we have the MOD release and Defence Minister written reply in LS as more reliable proof as to the status of Arjun. This article mixes up present reports of spendig and old news prior to the desert testing.

 

[BATMAN]

Don't worry we got lotsa money to throw around.. LOL.. better build an inferior product than beg others...

No one has challenged your affordability or the development cost and I trust that failure of Arjun project has not diluted the wealth reserves of India and it was a better thought rather buying tanks of foreign origin.
But since you brought up this issue, I record my disagreement to the phenomenon, because IMHO the condition of India’s civil and social sector does not justify any extravagant spending on arms, unnecessarily.
Surprising for me is that there is hardly any criticism or sense of embarrassment reflected from Indian press or defense analysts. Where as, It is an open fact that no field trials had ever earned Arjun a word of praise from IA chief.

I expect that discussions about Arjun development will never be over on defense related public forums and it will be scrutinized from all possible dimensions, irrespective of India’s affordability characteristic.
Undoubtedly, Arjun occupies the biggest chapter of Indian tank development history.

Now coming to the technical issues, I also read that the suspension also failed during last factory trials.
There was some news about defects in piston rods of suspension.
I will try to dig the said news, but any one who wishes to share further details will not be discouraged. (Forum rules apply )


Yes, Germans fixed the problems in there product but what about quality control problems while assembling those foreign made products of indigenous Indian tank.

 

[BATMAN]

Well we have the MOD release and Defence Minister written reply in LS as more reliable proof as to the status of Arjun. This article mixes up present reports of spendig and old news prior to the desert testing.

Can you please tell if this news is reffering to the same 'reply in LS'
Quote from news:

Some mobility defects had been noticed in the tanks during recent field trials and these related to failure of piston rods of hydro penumatic suspension system, the minister said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articl...DO seeks Israeli cooperation to develop radar

 

[Bull]

Can you please tell if this news is reffering to the same 'reply in LS'
Quote from news:


http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articl...DO seeks Israeli cooperation to develop radar

Yes thats what i was referring to. Defects where there and were solved thats what the LS was told.