is it more advanced then T 90?
Read for your self
The Hindu News Update Service
Army takes a U-turn on Arjun tank
(2008)
New Delhi (IANS): In a reversal of the Army's stand on the indigenous main battle tank (MBT) Arjun, which has been 37 years in the making, army chief General Deepak Kapoor has written to the defence ministry appreciating the tank's performance.
The Army chief's letter has come months before the MBT Arjun, which India has been trying to manufacture indigenously for more than three decades, is headed for head-to-head 'comparative trials' with the Russian T-90 tanks that the Army currently operates.
"The Army chief for the first time has appreciated Arjun tank for performing well. In a letter written earlier this year he said that the tank was subjected to the most strenuous of tests and it performed 'admirably well'," a Defence Ministry official told IANS on the condition of anonymity.
The letter from the Army chief came after last year's winter trials of the tank, which has already cost the exchequer Rs 3,500 crore. The stand is a complete U-turn as the Army had made it clear that it would buy no more than the 124 Arjuns it has contracted for because it is unhappy with the tank on various counts.
The Defence Research & Development Organisation's (DRDO) demand for the comparative trials of the two tanks is being seen as a desperate bid to save the Arjun as it would need to manufacture at least 500 tanks to make the project feasible.
"The Defence Ministry had been pushing for the joint trials for the past one-and-a-half-years but people in the military set up were not too keen," the official added.
A reluctant Army had also said that the Arjun can at best remain in service for five to 10 years while it is looking 20 years ahead and needs a futuristic MBT.
However, the Defence Ministry, which has been putting thrust on indigenisation, wanted to see the project through.
On February 11, Defence Minister A.K. Antony had expressed his happiness on the Arjun tank becoming "a reality". "We have seen light at the end of the tunnel," Antony had said speaking of the project.
The tank has been mired in controversy with the army last year having told a key parliamentary panel that the Arjun failed to deliver at the winter trials conducted in the Rajasthan desert in 2007. The army said that many improvements would have to be carried out before it was satisfied with the tank.
Adding fuel to the proverbial fire, Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh hinted at the possibility of "sabotage" during the 2007 winter trials.
The Army laid down its qualitative requirement (QR) for the Arjun in 1972. In 1982, it was announced that the prototype was ready for field trials. However, the tank was publicly unveiled for the first time only in 1995.
Arjun was originally meant to be a 40-tonne tank with a 105 mm gun. It has now grown to a 50-tonne tank with a 120 mm gun. The tank was meant to supplement and eventually replace the Soviet-era T-72 MBT that was first inducted in the early 1980s.
However, delays in the Arjun project and Pakistan's decision to purchase the T-80 from Ukraine prompted India to order 310 T-90s, an upgraded version of the T-72, in 2001.
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next two years were spent , with DRDO and Indian army fighting it out over the future of the tank.
Army making up BS excuses , and DRDO crying foul on what they saw was favouritism for Imported products.(yes i know what you are thinking but that;s exactly what happened)
IA said weight , despite the Arjun weighing the same as other tanks of its class
IA said logistics, some what true.
and
Self proclaimed experts , constantly rehashing BS for Media on why the tank is not fit
whilst Arjun was also defended.
T-90 and Arjun comparison
heck dude , they had to get the tank certified by a foreign tank manufacturer(Israeli) , Because the IA demanded it
after all that, in 2010.
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Army to spend billions on outdated T-72 tanks
In fact there were supposed to be trials between the Arjun and T-72 , the army opted out. This was because the T-72 is no match for the Arjun in its current condition
Piercing the army's armour of deception
MORE criticism on the army's purchase of T-90's when the Arjun was ready and able
PIB Press Release
Monday, April 26, 2010
Ministry of Defence
MBT Arjun
19:54 IST
The decision on the further order of the MBT Arjun tanks would be based on the results of recently concluded comparative trials of MBT Arjun and T-90 tanks.
Certain components of MBT Arjun are imported based on the indigenous design of their configurations. The other systems are indigenously designed and produced.
This information was given by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in a written reply to Shri S Semmalai and Shri GS Basavaraj in Lok Sabha today.
PK / RAJ
DRDO had to fight to get this trial, elements within the Army tried everything it could to avoid it. It was even delayed for year(originally last year may 2009) as a result of IA .
Meaning no , new orders would have been placed or even consider , had the Arjun had come out on top in the trials.
But finally the trial was done and the results known to all.
Arjun tank outruns, outguns Russian T-90
Arjun tank outruns, outguns Russian T-90
Ajai Shukla / New Delhi March 25, 2010, 0:18 IST
India’s home-built Arjun tank has emerged a conclusive winner from its showdown with the Russian T-90. A week of comparative trials, conducted by the army at the Mahajan Ranges, near Bikaner in Rajasthan, has ended; the results are still officially secret. But, Business Standard has learned from multiple sources who were involved in the trials that the Arjun tank has outperformed the T-90 on every crucial parameter.
The trial pitted one squadron (14 tanks) of Arjuns against an equal number of T-90s. Each squadron was given three tactical tasks; each involved driving across 50 kilometres of desert terrain and then shooting at a set of targets. Each tank had to fire at least 10 rounds, stationary and on the move, with each hit being carefully logged. In total, each tank drove 150 kilometres and fired between 30-50 rounds. The trials also checked the tanks’ ability to drive through a water channel 5-6 feet deep.
The Arjun tanks, the observers all agreed, performed superbly. Whether driving cross-country over rugged sand-dunes; detecting, observing and quickly engaging targets; or accurately hitting targets, both stationery and moving, with pinpoint gunnery; the Arjun demonstrated a clear superiority over the vaunted T-90.
“The Arjun could have performed even better, had it been operated by experienced crewmen”, says an officer who has worked on the Arjun. “As the army’s tank regiments gather experience on the Arjun, they will learn to exploit its capabilities.” With the trial report still being compiled — it is expected to reach Army Headquarters after a fortnight — neither the army, nor the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO), which developed the Arjun tank in Chennai at the Central Vehicles R&D Establishment (CVRDE), are willing to comment officially about the trials.
The importance of this comparative trial can be gauged from a list of those who attended. Witnessing the Arjun in action were most of the army’s senior tank generals, including the Director General of Mechanised Forces, Lt Gen D Bhardwaj; strike corps commander, Lt Gen Anil Chait; Army Commander South, Lt Gen Pradeep Khanna; and Deputy Chief of the Army Staff, Lt Gen JP Singh. The Director General of Military Operations, Lt Gen AS Sekhon also attended the trials.
Over the last four months, the army had systematically signalled that it did not want to buy more Arjuns. The message from senior officers was — 124 Arjun tanks have been bought already; no more would be ordered for the army’s fleet of 4000 tanks. The comparative trial, or so went the message, was merely to evaluate what operational role could be given to the army’s handful of Arjuns.
“The senior officers who attended the trials were taken aback by the Arjun’s strong performance,” an officer who was present through the trials frankly stated. “But they were also pleased that the Arjun had finally come of age.”
The army’s Directorate General of Mechanised Forces (DGMF), which has bitterly opposed buying more Arjuns, will now find it difficult to sustain that opposition. In keeping out the Arjun, the DGMF has opted to retain the already obsolescent T-72 tank in service for another two decades, spending thousands of crores in upgrading its vintage systems.
Now, confronted with the Arjun’s demonstrated capability, the army will face growing pressure to order more Arjuns.
The current order of 124 Arjuns is equipping the army’s 140 Armoured Brigade in Jaisalmer. With that order almost completed, the Arjun production line at the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) in Avadi, near Chennai, needs more orders urgently. The Rs 50 crore facility can churn out 50 Arjuns annually. That would allow for the addition of close to one Arjun regiment each year (a regiment is authorised 62 tanks).
Tank experts point out that conducting trials only in Mahajan does not square with the army’s assertion that they are evaluating a role for the Arjun. Says Major General HM Singh, who oversaw the Arjun’s development for decades, “If they were evaluating where the Arjun should be deployed, they should have conducted the trials in different types of terrain: desert, semi-desert, plains and riverine. It seems as if the army has already decided to employ the Arjun in the desert.”
The Arjun’s sterling performance in the desert raises another far-reaching question: should the Arjun — with its proven mobility, firepower and armour protection — be restricted to a defensive role or should it equip the army’s strike corps for performing a tank’s most devastating (and glamorous) role: attacking deep into enemy territory during war? Each strike corps has 8-9 tank regiments. If the army recommends the Arjun for a strike role, that would mean an additional order of about 500 Arjuns.
But Business Standard has learned that senior officers are hesitant to induct the Arjun into strike corps. Sources say the Arjun will be kept out of strike formations on the grounds that it is incompatible with other strike corps equipment, e.g. assault bridges that cannot bear the 60-tonne weight of the Arjun.(gogbot: this is in fact not true , there are new bridges made with the Arjun in mind , Arjun regiments can use those bridges)
And now we have an order for 124 , breaking the cap on tanks IA set.
And if your wondering if the results are a not exactly true , they are .
the reason why is that the Anti-Arjun Lobby comprising mainly of the imports lobby.
Has not been one to shy away from a chance to prove that the Arjun is not up to the mark. If the Arjun had shown any weakness or sign of failure , they would have been over it like vultures.
The fact that they have kept silent , whilst more tanks have been ordered is only more proof of that.
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Bottom line
Arjun is more well armoured , faster , more accurate and has a longer range.
Even the ATGM it fires have a longer range.
It's rifled gun , gives it far greater accuracy.
And it's accuracy while moving is miles above what the t-90 is capable of .
don't get me wrong the T-90 is a good tank in its own right , many of our rivals tanks are in fact derived from it. But the Arjun is just better.
.
series it will serve India atleast for next Decade or so.
