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MBT Arj Jul2008

The Arjun MBT project was initially sanctioned in 1974 at a cost of Rs. 15.50 Cr but experienced cost overruns and delays. The Arjun incorporates advanced technologies like composite armor and integrated systems. It has proven itself in trials but some issues were identified relating to ammunition, suspension components, and fans/extractors. The Arjun compares well globally and is suitable for India's borders, but the Army needs to place more orders to make its production viable and allow technology upgrades.

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Shiv Aroor
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119 views

MBT Arj Jul2008

The Arjun MBT project was initially sanctioned in 1974 at a cost of Rs. 15.50 Cr but experienced cost overruns and delays. The Arjun incorporates advanced technologies like composite armor and integrated systems. It has proven itself in trials but some issues were identified relating to ammunition, suspension components, and fans/extractors. The Arjun compares well globally and is suitable for India's borders, but the Army needs to place more orders to make its production viable and allow technology upgrades.

Uploaded by

Shiv Aroor
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

‘ARJUN’

The project on development of MBT Arjun was initially sanctioned


in May 1974 at a cost of Rs.15.50 Cr with a PDC of 10 years. Time and
cost have undergone revision on 3 occasions (in 1980, 1987 and 2000).
The reasons for revision in cost and time are; major changes in qualitative
requirements, developmental delays for new systems/technologies, delay
in import of sub-system due to import embargoes, increase in number of
prototypes, difficulties in organising for field evaluation etc. The final
cost at the time of closure of the project in Mar 1995 was Rs.305.60
Crores. The development of tanks of similar capabilities in a foreign
country will cost 10 times the development cost what we have incurred in
India.

Some of the state-of-the-art technologies incorporated in the


‘Arjun’ are modern integrated fire control system with Fire Control
Computer and MRS, Hydro-pneumatic suspension, Kanchan Armour,
highly lethal and accurate FSAPDS ammunition and NBC protection.

The major imported systems in the tank are the powerpack and gun
control system from Germany and Delft-SAGEM gunner’s main sight
from OIP Belgium. The percentage of import content is 60% in the first
lot of 124 tanks to be productionised, which will be reduced to under
45% with the manufacture of first 200 tanks and under 30% with the
manufacture of about 500 tanks.

‘Arjun’ is a proven tank as far as DRDO is concerned. The tank


has been cleared after taking approval of the Army. The DRDO and
Army have drawn a Joint Action Plan and as per which the improvements
have been incorporated in the production tanks.

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The major deficiencies noted by the users during the trials were
ammunition and low life of Hydro pneumatic suspension, road wheels,
dust extractor & radiator fan blades. These have been systematically
attended to and the performance of the tank during the Summer Trials
confirmed to the laid down GSQR.

T-90S and MBT Arjun tanks are of different class. Both the tanks
have their own special features. In MBT Arjun, we have more power to
weight ratio, hydro-pneumatic suspension for better ride comfort and a
stable platform to fire on the move, better quality class of Gun Control
System and Fire Control System etc. Missile firing capability of Arjun
was demonstrated. T-90S tank has missile firing capability and lower
silhouette. Tanks of both the class are required by the Indian Army.

The present cost of MBT Arjun is Rs.16.80 crore and the cost of T-90 is
around Rs.12.00 crore. The cost of Arjun compares favourably with
contemporary Western MBTs of its class, costing in the range of Rs 17 to
24 crores.

Army has cleared MBT Arjun for production and has placed an
indent on 30 March 2000 for manufacture of 124 Arjun tanks, by 2009
for 2 Regiments. Bulk production of MBT Arjun has commenced. First
batch of five Arjun production tanks manufactured at Heavy Vehicle
Factory (HVF), Avadi were handed over by RM to COAS at HVF on 07
Aug 2004. Till date a total of 64 tanks have already been developed at the
Defence PSU and 14 have been delivered for evaluation. The remaining
60 would be delivered by 2009 after due JRI. Now, it is time to think of
next set of orders from Army on MBT-Arjun.

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MBT Arjun is strategically a very competent armoured vehicle. It has an
excellent weight to power ratio, good mobility and very accurate
firepower, which confirm to the QRs as laid down by the Army. It
compares excellently with all the heavy class of tanks available across the
world. It can be effectively deployed in most of the border areas of our
country.

Teething problems during the process of productionisation are


inevitable. The process of TOT for the MBT will mature and stabilize
only after 200 to 300 tanks have been actually produced by the
production agency. Hence, we need to have patronage from the
government and Army in terms of more orders for our indigenous MBT-
Arjun. If the army does not place further orders for Arjun we cannot even
amortize the infrastructural investments made by the government for its
productionisation, thereby resulting in wasteful expenditure. The Army
should place orders for additional 300 tanks before we can break even.

DRDO is working on the development of the futuristic Mark II


MBT with suitable technological upgrades, which can be introduced later
after completion of production of atleast 500 tanks of the present version.
DRDO has tacit knowledge in this area of Combat Vehicle Engineering
and possesses full competence in developing futuristic combat vehicles.
Any battle tank has a service life of 30 years and goes through technology
up gradation progressively. Since MBT-Arjun is an indigenous tank it is
all the more easier to bring upgrades and in our opinion the MBT-Arjun
will be a viable platform for the futuristic use as well.

Five phases of accelerated user cum reliability trials (AVCRT) of


MBT Arjun have been completed. Two tanks have covered more than
5000 km and fired 500 EFC each both in winter, and summer of 2008 at
Pokhran and MFFR ranges Rajasthan. Initial teething troubles in

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transmission and firing have been overcome in the last two phases
successfully and the performance and reliability of the tanks are very
satisfactory.

The comparative trials of MBT-Arjun and T-90 can be pursued but


should not be linked with placement of further orders for MBT. Govt
should intervene at this stage and ensure that our indigenous efforts in
this direction are appropriately rewarded. MBT Arjun today remains a
contemporary battle tank and by far superior to T-54, T-55, and T-72
tanks that the Army has been using over the years.

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