The Arjun Mk.II main battle tank made its debut at India’s 65th Republic Day Parade today. Incorporating over seventy improvements over the Arjun Mk.I, the improved variant is in a final phase (hopefully) of user trials, according to the DRDO. In a statement put out yesterday, the DRDO stated, “Arjun Mark II incorporates enhanced firepower with Automated Target Tracking and greater variety of ammunition including Gun-fired anti-tank missile and the devastating Thermobaric ammunition; enhanced protection that include Explosive Reactive Armor, Laser Warning come Countermeasure System, a Mine Plough, a Remotely operable Anti-Aircraft weapon, a Roof mounted driving seat; Advanced Land Navigation System and Enhanced night vision capabilities.”
awesome plzz post more pics
looks great i must say…!!!
but here are some points the army might use to reject it again..:-
#1.the primary impediment according to the army for the arjun mk1 to enter service was its 58 ton weight.the mk2 adds ERA and a lots of gadgets to the mk1 ; and ERA is very heavy. the addition of kontact 5 to T-72 to create T-90(it was originally to be named T-72BU but later renamed for promotional purposes) increades its weight by nearly 6 tons. the TUSK(Tank Urban Survival KIT;a fancy name for add on ERA) to M1A2 added 7.5 tons. so it woul be a safe bet that the ERA on arjun 2 would add atleast 5-7 tons.this would negate the mobility advantage ot had against the T-90.
#2.Commander's panaromic sight is totally exposed thus a HE round exploding against the tank would rip off this expensive piece of equipment even though it might not harm the tank at all;even small arms fire from assault rifles wouid destroy it and thus seriously degarade the tanks capabilities
#3. no added protection to roof and no APS, so it is vulnerable to top attack missiles like TOW (operated by pakistan in large numbers) and overhead RPG fire, like the russians faced in afganistan and chechnya.
THE ARMY MUST PLACE NOW ORDERS FOR 1200 TANKS AND DRDO MUST MAKE MARK -3 AFTER 5-600 TANKS AND MK-4 BY 800 TANKS . EXCEPT COMPONENTS FULLY BUILT TANKS MUST NOW NOMORE BE IMPORTED . AS REGARDING THE BRIDGES IN PUNJAB . WITH A DYNAMIC YOUNG BADAL THE ARMY CAN EASILY GET THEM REINFORCED WIDENED FOR 70 TONS . ALL HOLDING CORPS MUST NOW BE EQUIPPED ONLY WITH ARJUN MK-2 AND SUBSEQUENT MODELS . THE DRDO NOW HAS ITS PATH CLEAR FOR MK-3 , MK4 AND FUTURE MBT. DEFECIENCIES IF ANY CAN BE SMOOTHENED OUT AND THE ARMY CAN LEARN TO LIVE WITH INDIAN DESIGNED TANKS . THE STRIKE CORPS CAN BE WITH T-90.
Well, well…starting to look like it means business! Don't like the drums at the rear though.
The arjun debacle must be a lesson for DRDO that all their endeavours must be on the lines of India's millitary doctrine..
the arjun is a world class tank no doubt but it is simply not what the army needs or wants to use.
the army has been using soviet tanks since 60s .these are characterised by low silouettes and low gun elevation and depresion and the army has learnt to fight in such tanks. the army's doctrine of combat revolves around these characteristics of the tanks…and then suddenly DRDO comes up with this tank in the western layout .thus even though the tank is great the army is reluctant to accept it as it would have to literally reinvent how it fights.
i guess it would have been much wiser on the part of DRDO if they had consulted the soviets for the design of the tank instead of the germans.
Arjun MK1/MK2 are design by DRDO as directed by Army itself, Its call GSQR, If Arjun gain weights its according to Army specification, Arjun is heavy class tank according to IA and that is coz IA wanted a Heavy tank, Now some one start some argue that why this is so and that and question the specs from IA or MOD then he has something to do with Russian or some else lobby to derail National defense product and invite large imports with large scams, Its the matter of time we will find out T-90 Scam just like Bofors ..
Will this go into production? If it will, what are the numbers projected?
@Anon 9.10 PM
Truth is Arjun doesn't generates kickbacks whereas T-90 does. This is the reason why Army is reluctant to induct indigenous stuff. Same is the case with IAF where exACM has been caught taking bribes.
Also it's a ridiculous charge that DRDO has developed Arjun for Indian Army without any any consultation with them.
Mount a 155 on the chassis. NOW!!
Too bad, Bhim had to be canned due to some unfounded rumor mongering by the usual suspects.
Bhim can be DRDO/OFB gun on the Arjun. That will work fine. Hope the work on it starts soon. 🙂
Arjun MK-III work can begin now with the objective of a tank with three men crew, thereby saving on size and weight. The autoloader can be made of lightweight material and can be state of the art in terms of technology.The Army will surely like such a tank with three men crew. It can also have an active protection system. While the Mark-II can be produced in around 500 numbers, the Mark-III can be produced in thousands to replace all the Russian tanks in service. Based on the Arjun MK-III the future FMBT can be developed.
What a stupid paint-job! When will we ever get anything right with all these sarkari types entrenched everywhere?