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In an unprecedented move, the Arjun tank project has taken a new turn with the Indian Army agreeing to hold comparative trials between the indigenous tank and the Russian T-90 and T-72. Although the Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor has conveyed his agreement to hold the comparative trials, he has also chalked out new terms for accepting the order of 124 Arjun tanks, with a new Israeli twist.
For the first batch of 62 tanks, the Indian Army carried exhaustive trials and directed changes made by the special army team. However, the fresh twist in the next batch of 62 tanks is the Indian Army’s demand of improving these Arjun tanks to Israel Military Industries (IMI) standard.
While the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has taken assistance from the IMI earlier for design and engineering, the new demand from the Indian Army will further complicate the negotiations concerning the Arjun tank. DRDO claims that the whole batch of 124 tanks will be affected since the 124 hulls are ready and it will further delay the induction if changes were to be made.
According to the Indian Army, the first batch of 62 tanks which were put on trial will be accepted with improved firing accuracy, better transmission system and some other minor changes. The transmission system, supplied by a German firm, would need some hardware improvement besides the software improvement carried out recently. As for the next batch, they will have to meet the IMI standards.
As of now, the Indian Defence Ministry is keen to get at least 14 of them ready by February 2009 to give the go-ahead for the summer trials alongside the T-90s and T-72s.
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