Arjun could be a good tank. But base on how Indian army treats and rejected the tank, it can be seen as a failure. If India with its emerging military industrial complex build its first tank and rejected by the army for a foreign model, it would be preceived as a failure no matter how good the tank is.
Arjun tank outruns, outguns Russian T-90
to clarify your doubts please read this...
Arjun tank outruns, outguns Russian T-90
Ajai Shukla / New Delhi March 25, 2010, 0:18 IST
Indias 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 armys 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 armys 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 armys fleet of 4000 tanks. The comparative trial, or so went the message, was merely to evaluate what operational role could be given to the armys handful of Arjuns.
The senior officers who attended the trials were taken aback by the Arjuns 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 armys 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 Arjuns demonstrated capability, the army will face growing pressure to order more Arjuns.
The current order of 124 Arjuns is equipping the armys 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 armys assertion that they are evaluating a role for the Arjun. Says Major General HM Singh, who oversaw the Arjuns 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 Arjuns 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 armys strike corps for performing a tanks 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.
...''i have heard from my sources that this has failed, project is a disaster, you are doomed'' ,when asked to provide a credible source they have bollocks.some kind of joint
, may be where they go and plan for future theories...
so dont worry much 300 of these beasts and a new generation mk2 will be the tip of the arrow
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