Arjun Main Battle Tank (Mk-1 & Mk-2)

[STEPHEN COHEN]

Army set to place order for 118 Arjun Mark 1-As, the most potent tank in its inventory

The Mark 1-A, developed by DRDO, features 14 major improvements sought by the Army, including better firepower and new transmission systems.

By SNEHESH ALEX PHILIP
16 March, 2020; 7:30 am IST

The Mark 1-A features 14 improvements over the Arjun main battle tank (pictured here) | Photo: PIB via Wikipedia

New Delhi: After numerous delays and extensive trials, the Indian Army is set to finally place an order for 118 indigenously manufactured Arjun Mark 1-A ‘Hunter Killers’, which will have all-weather capability and better fire power and stability than the Arjun main battle tank (MBT).

Army sources told ThePrint that the Mark 1-A, which weighs 68 tonnes and features a 120mm main gun, has cleared all tests, and that cost negotiations with its developer, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), are complete. The sources added that the Army has pushed the file to place the order, which will be done “soon”.

The move comes as a big boost for the Chennai-based Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), a DRDO lab.

The major improvements

“The tank comes with 14 major improvements that the Army has sought, which will make it the most potent and self-protective tank in the Army’s inventory,” V. Balamurugan, director of the CVRDE, told ThePrint.

Balamurugan said the first tank will be rolled out from the factory within 30 months of the order of intent (the technical term used for the order) being placed.

He explained that four upgrades were made to the firepower of the tank, besides other developments, including new transmission systems.

The Mark 1-A includes an improved gunner’s main sight, integrated with automatic target tracking. This would enable the tank crew to track moving targets automatically, and engage them even when Arjun is on the move.

The Arjun Mk-1A’s gun is controlled by a computerised integrated fire control system, giving the tank has a high first round kill capability. The gun’s day-and-night stabilised sights, coupled with automatic target tracker, guarantee accurate engagement even in dynamic conditions, a senior DRDO official told ThePrint.

Other than the conventional fin stabilised armour piercing discarding sabot and high explosive squash head ammunition, the Mark 1-A comes with thermo baric and penetration-cum-blast ammunition.

The Arjun saga

The Arjun MBT project was initiated in the mid-1970s, but the first two regiments of the tank were inducted into the Army starting 2004. Even then, they have never been used to their optimal capability because of a variety of reasons — including excess weight, issues with certain parts, and availability of spare parts.

The Arjun MBT had performed better than Russian T-90s during a desert trial conducted by the Army in 2010. However, reliability and availability weighed on the Army’s mind. The force argued that weight of the MBT, 62.5 tonnes, was a handicap as it meant that Arjun was too heavy for roads, bridges and canals along the Pakistan border.

The Army, in 2010, proposed an improved version of the tank, which would be called the Mark II, and was to have over 80 improvements, including 15 major ones.

However, this also meant that weight would increase further.

Cannon-launched guided missiles

In 2012, the DRDO offered the Arjun for trials with all the major enhancements, except one — a cannon-launched guided missile (CLGM).

The Army had insisted on having that capability, since other tanks like the T-90 also had it.

The DRDO roped in the Israelis and sourced the Lahat CLGM, which could conclusively hit targets between two and five kilometres away. The trials validated the CLGM’s laser designator.

However, the Army wanted a missile that could hit targets as close as close as 1.2 km, Balamurugan said.

He added that the Israelis took about a year to decide on producing it, but by then, the DRDO had decided to go in for an indigenous CLGM.

Talks between the DRDO and the Army continued until March 2018, and it was finally agreed that the next batch of Arjuns, to be called Mark 1-A, would be supplied without the missile firing capability.

“The process for building that (CLGM) is already on, and could actually be integrated on the Mark 1-A as they start rolling out,” Balamurugan said.

As far as weight is concerned, he said that though the Mark 1-A weighs more, it has been designed in such a way that pressure exerted at specific points is much lower.

Army set to place order for 118 Arjun Mark 1-As, the most potent tank in its inventory

We need 125 mm Smoothbore Cannon on Arjun

 

[randomradio]

Those frontal armour holes with TI and mantlet are terrible on the Mk1 and Mk1A. It's ridiculously large.

It's a pretty ridiculous problem to have. This is one of the biggest reasons the army will not consider the type seriously. Even a T-72 will go through that giant hole in the armour.

Another problem is the ammo storage isn't protected with blow out panels. So a T-72 will easily breach the frontal armour holes, hit the unprotected ammo and cook the tank from the inside out.

These are the two biggest problems with the Arjun, and the problems are very, very, very big. Everything else, including weight, is manageable.

 

[BlackAnt]

Those frontal armour holes with TI and mantlet are terrible on the Mk1 and Mk1A. It's ridiculously large.

View attachment 14808

It's a pretty ridiculous problem to have. This is one of the biggest reasons the army will not consider the type seriously. Even a T-72 will go through that giant hole in the armour.

Another problem is the ammo storage isn't protected with blow out panels. So a T-72 will easily breach the frontal armour holes, hit the unprotected ammo and cook the tank from the inside out.

These are the two biggest problems with the Arjun, and the problems are very, very, very big. Everything else, including weight, is manageable.

you have old news..

watch this video.

 

[randomradio]

you have old news..

watch this video.

He is plain wrong about the area behind the sight. The line he draws goes straight into where the CPS is located. The armour is much smaller than he thinks. Once he sees the internal layout, he will know immediately. It's also common sense, if armour goes straight up to the commander's hatch, the commander will only be staring at the armour right in front of his face, with no access to his displays. The Mk1A design should have fixed this hole. But if they moved the sight higher, they wouldn't be able to add the CPS, and another alternat site was taken over by the rifle. The rest of it is armour. What they should do is move the rifle behind the commander and then use the left over space for the sight. Alas it's too late.

Also the mantlet is too big, and there's little to no armour behind it. Adding a gun skirt does nothing. Your only choice is to make the mantlet as small as possible. Even the Leopard 2A4 has a much smaller mantlet. This is a pretty stupid failure. But they decided not to modify the gun so the mantlet was left as is. You are free to look up images of other tanks to compare.

If the ammo container has 360 deg blow out panel, then it's good news. But if it does not have a lid, then it's pointless. But I will give benefit of doubt here. This was a huge flaw earlier.

He's completely wrong about Tank-Ex. It had nothing to do with the IA, DRDO made it as an experimental project, that's why the "Ex" in the name.

Nothing really wrong with the firepower, although it would be good to develop new shells with longer rods. There should be a new one developed with 600+ mm penetraton at 0 deg, which exceeds our current gen T-90S. Nothing wrong with the rest of the video as well.

 

[Gautam]

Indian MoD concludes price negotiations for 118 Arjun Mk 1A MBTs

By Rahul Bedi, New Delhi - Jane's Defence Weekly
18 March 2020

This image shows the Arjun Mk 2 MBT, which is currently under development. The Mk 1A variant, for which price negotiations have recently concluded, is an interim step between this and the original Mk 1. It is understood that the Mk 1A incorporates some of the Mk 2 improvements, including mine ploughs and additional ERA. Source: DRDO

India’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has concluded negotiations with the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to acquire 118 units of the indigenously developed Arjun Mk1A main battle tank (MBT) for the Indian Army (IA) for an estimated INR66 billion (USD888.7 million).(So less than 7.53 million a piece. M1A1 is around 9 million, K2 is around 8.5 million. The Leclerc, T-90 and Challenger are all around 4 million a piece.)

Official sources told Jane’s on 18 March that an “order of intent” will be placed “imminently” by the MoD with the OFB’s Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) at Avadi in southern India for this upgraded variant of the Arjun, which features 72 improvements, including 14 major ones, over the Mk 1 model.

The impending order will also feature a two-year engineering and support package that will include maintenance, spares and simulator training for the tank crews.

Deliveries are expected to begin within 30 months of the contract being signed and be completed within four to five years, OFB officials told Jane's .

Once inducted, the upgraded Arjun Mk 1As, which were approved for procurement by the IA in late 2018 following validation trials, will supplement 124 Arjun Mk 1s that joined the service from 2004 onwards.

Engineers at the DRDO’s Chennai-based Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE), which designed the Arjun, said the Mk 1A’s enhancements include advanced thermal-imaging sights for night-time fighting, improved navigation systems, a digital control harness and a mine plough.

According to Dr P Shiv Kumar, who used to head the CVRDE, the Mk 1A variant – which like the Mk 1 is operated by a four-man crew – is also fitted with a new panoramic sight for the tank commander, a more powerful auxiliary power unit (8.5 kW capacity) and an enhanced communication system capable of real-time data transmission.

The Mk 1A’s hull and turret, he said, have been modified to give the MBT a lower silhouette to make detection more difficult.

Indian MoD concludes price negotiations for 118 Arjun Mk 1A MBTs | Jane's 360

 

[Ashwin]

(So less than 7.53 million a piece. M1A1 is around 9 million, K2 is around 8.5 million. The Leclerc, T-90 and Challenger are all around 4 million a piece.)

The impending order will also feature a two-year engineering and support package that will include maintenance, spares and simulator training for the tank crews.

So even less

 

[Gautam]

So even less

The other tanks have been produced in hundreds, thousands in the case of the Abrams and T 90. Nothing beats domestic development in cost competitiveness. I do hope we can maintain this price tag for the NGMBT.

 

[Ankit Kumar]

The other tanks have been produced in hundreds, thousands in the case of the Abrams and T 90. Nothing beats domestic development in cost competitiveness. I do hope we can maintain this price tag for the NGMBT.

I just wish we either import a European 120mm smoothbore Canon and make it standard across Arjun , T72 and T90 or get the newer 125mm Russian one and use it on Arjun too. Would make sense.

 

[Gautam]

I just wish we either import a European 120mm smoothbore Canon and make it standard across Arjun , T72 and T90 or get the newer 125mm Russian one and use it on Arjun too. Would make sense.

We are making a new 125 mm SB gun for the NGMBT. That will do just fine, no need for imports. With imports comes the "this OEM won't work with that OEM, thus this system cannot be integrated with that system" nonsense.

 

[janme]

A new main battle tank is under design phase weighing around 45 tons, 3 man crew with APS, a unmanned turret and a 125 mm smooth bore gun. The Arjuns will be upgraded(Mk1, Mk1A etc) but this is different. This tank is modled on the Russian ARMATA in a way.

Can you please provide the source of this news?. By the way why would DRDO design a new MBT when IA has not released the specifications of what it wants?

 

[Gautam]

Can you please provide the source of this news?.

No single news source has said this yet but there has been several sources indicating as such you can find most of them on this thread. On page no 5 post #84 of this thread you can see that the Arjun Mk1A tank is ready and waiting for orders. Curiously the tank now called Mk1A was in the past named Mk2, suggesting the MK2 nomenclature might be used for something else.

On post #96 you can see a shot from the MoD's Annual paper talking about how funding is sought for a Next Generation Main Battle Tank(NGMBT) development among other projects. If the development of the Mk1A is complete and its now awaiting an order, what exactly is the NGMBT ? The screenshots that I posted were from various DRDO research papers and those specs that I mentioned in the comment were in those papers as well.

Here is one of them : Design Configuration of a Generation Next Main Battle Tank for Future Combat | Defence Science Journal

We will probably have media articles only after the budget for this project is approved.

 

[Ankit Kumar]

Arjun Mk2 will be in 60 ton category, hopefully with a smooth bore gun and Active Protection System.

Basically Arjun MK1A with lighter more modern armour.

 

[Lolwa]

We need 125 mm Smoothbore Cannon on Arjun

Arjun Mk2 will be in 60 ton category, hopefully with a smooth bore gun and Active Protection System.

Basically Arjun MK1A with lighter more modern armour.

I doubt they will use a smoothbore gun. IA still loves rifled guns for some reason.

 

[STEPHEN COHEN]

I doubt they will use a smoothbore gun. IA still loves rifled guns for some reason.

Smoothbore guns are needed to fire
CLGM

 

[Ankit Kumar]

I doubt they will use a smoothbore gun. IA still loves rifled guns for some reason.

The rifled gun has many limitations on types of ammunition it can utilise, it has higher operating costs compared to smoothbore alternatives. Its only advantage might be highly accurate fire using HESH rounds against bunkers or lightly armoured vehicles. That's why more and more attempts world wide are made to mount a 105mm or a 90mm rifled gun on a IFV platform so that it can carry out infantry support roles or operate in urban environments.

But in Anti Tank operations, todays its Sabot rounds or canon launched guided missiles.

The german 120mm smoothbore is real good thing with real good specifications, used worldwide with wide range of Ammo types available. But guided missile launch capability with the 2A46M... as we are already using it in T90. Hopefully its M5 version, we standardise it across all new built T90s, refurbished T72M1 and to be built Arjuns.

 

[Lolwa]

The rifled gun has many limitations on types of ammunition it can utilise, it has higher operating costs compared to smoothbore alternatives. Its only advantage might be highly accurate fire using HESH rounds against bunkers or lightly armoured vehicles. That's why more and more attempts world wide are made to mount a 105mm or a 90mm rifled gun on a IFV platform so that it can carry out infantry support roles or operate in urban environments.

But in Anti Tank operations, todays its Sabot rounds or canon launched guided missiles.

The german 120mm smoothbore is real good thing with real good specifications, used worldwide with wide range of Ammo types available. But guided missile launch capability with the 2A46M... as we are already using it in T90. Hopefully its M5 version, we standardise it across all new built T90s, refurbished T72M1 and to be built Arjuns.

I totally agree on the smoothbore now being a much better design to choose. Rifled guns are outdated in modern warfare. But the IA seems to be led by outdated thought process. We haven't upgunned our t90s or t72 to 2a46m5. Basically all our armour can only penetrate 500 mm rha with KE rounds. Heat is 900 mm. Most of the western world and even the Russians have KE rounds atleast 650mm and the best KE rounds go upto 950mm rha. Even the Chinese have a 800mm rha apfsds . We are wasting our money buying new t90s they are outdated in every sense of the word. I hope the new 464 deal is for t 90ms instead of t90s otherwise we will have 4000 lemons. That will only be good against Pakistani tanks but our armour is only equivalent to Pakistani armour they have as much chance of penetrating us as much as we will have. Only Arjun could be a game changer but if the armour near the sighit and mantle area is not covered they will all be mission killed. Plus the Pakistanis now have kornet so it won't be easy. Now they are getting the vt4 . Al Khalid's are junk tanks but vt4 might change the balance for us.

Plus I don't think we should put 125mm on the Arjun better to license produce the rheinmetall l/55 but idiots in drdo will claim that they can make a better gun than the Germans . So let's wait and watch.

 

[Lolwa]

Solid Tank, Solid Price: Will China's VT-4 Outsell America's Abrams Tank?

The market is heating up.

nationalinterest.org

National interest has a good article on it seems like they might have a better tank than us until we get the t90 ms

 

[randomradio]

Solid Tank, Solid Price: Will China's VT-4 Outsell America's Abrams Tank?

The market is heating up.

nationalinterest.org

National interest has a good article on it seems like they might have a better tank than us until we get the t90 ms

The VT-4 is basically a renamed Type 90 II. More or less an Al-Khalid 3. It's junk.

 

[Lolwa]

The VT-4 is basically a renamed Type 90 II. More or less an Al-Khalid 3. It's junk.

I thought that was the case but it seems to be a major improvement over the first al khalid. I don't know how true the claims are but the national interest have said that the tank has around 600 mm hull protection. And around 800 mm on the turret considering the Chinese claims are true. Plus it seems to have a lot similarity to the Chinese type 99 both have the same weight the turret design also seems similar and it seems vt 4 is basically a downgraded type 99. An above average tank for the most part. The ammunition is also not bad but porks might end up using their naiza dp round instead. It's not as shit as the al khalid. Though the porks will paint it green and call it al khalid 2 so good for them.

 

[randomradio]

I thought that was the case but it seems to be a major improvement over the first al khalid. I don't know how true the claims are but the national interest have said that the tank has around 600 mm hull protection. And around 800 mm on the turret considering the Chinese claims are true. Plus it seems to have a lot similarity to the Chinese type 99 both have the same weight the turret design also seems similar and it seems vt 4 is basically a downgraded type 99. An above average tank for the most part. The ammunition is also not bad but porks might end up using their naiza dp round instead. It's not as shit as the al khalid. Though the porks will paint it green and call it al khalid 2 so good for them.

Even the latest tank the Chinese use is junk. The Type 99 is only a Type 90-II derivative. India won't be facing those tanks in numbers anyway, it's a problem for the Chinese when facing Russia or NATO.

The Pakistanis definitely need a whole new design to counter India's buildup. But without a capable air force, it won't matter how advanced the tank is.