CVRDE to develop stealth battle tanks to power Army

[RPK]

CVRDE to develop stealth battle tanks to power Army | Deccan Chronicle


The Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) in the city has embarked on an ambitious mission to develop “stealth” battle tanks.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and CVRDE have planned to develop futuristic battle tanks with a lot of modifications, P. Sivakumar, director, CVRDE, told Deccan Chronicle after Sathyabama University conferred an honorary doctorate on him on Thursday.

“We have two varieties of futuristic battle tanks — soft kill, which will protect the tank with camouflage and hard kill, which will not only protect our tank” but also fire at enemy tanks, he said.

DRDO had asked the city-based defence lab to develop Arjun Mark 2 on the successful performance of Arjun Mark 1 battle tank, Sivakumar said, adding that CVRDE scientists had identified 89 improvements in the Arjun Mark 1 tank.

“The Arjun Mark 2 tank will move to Pokhran in Rajasthan on May 10 for firing after which the Army will start its trial on June 1,” he said.

Later in his convocation address, Sivakumar said that DRDO had planned massive programmes in robotics and unmanned aerial vehicles for various applications.

“Nano-technology and bio-technology will change the face of future war fighting. It will eventually make tanks, aircrafts, ships and spacecrafts further lighter and stronger,” he said.

 

[angeldemon_007]

^^^
Sometimes stealth and sometimes nanotech in the FMBT. Next Mr. Shivakumar will say we will make flying MBT...

I think right now, when they should at-least get the list of features that IA wants in FMBT, otherwise CVRDE will have to make changes at the later stage thereby increasing the development time.

There are already teams working on nanotech, CVRDE should join hands with them, because it would be foolish to develop nano products by themselves when they can use the progress of different lab in the same field.

As far as stealth goes, they will have to define how to approach this field. I mean if we are looking IR signature then BAE has already developed the tech. CVRDE should take benefit of BAE presence in India and increasing UK-India partnership in the defense research.

 

[Major Shaitan Singh]

This is all happening due to Rafale Deal !!

This is an old news DRDO have started this work almost 5 yrs back.

Remember French AMX 30 Stealth Vehicle

FEATURES OF THE FMBT
Weight:- 50-tonnes
Engine:-1800 Horse Power
Transmission:- CVRDE-developed
Armour:-Active Protection System (APS)
Gun:-120 mm smoothbore
Suspension:-Hydro-pneumatic

As the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) begins designing the Future Main Battle Tank (FMBT), the army is sending out typically mixed messages on the vital question of how big and heavy India wants its tanks. While insisting that the DRDO’s 60-tonne Arjun tank weighs too much to move around the riverine terrain of Punjab and J&K, the army has demanded features in the next Arjun model (Arjun Mark II) that will raise its weight to 65 tonnes.

Planning for the FMBT —the Gen-Next tank that will follow the Arjun Mark II by 2020 — is even more contradictory. The army wants the FMBT to weigh just 50 tonnes while bettering all the Arjun’s features.

Officials at the Combat Vehicles R&D Establishment (CVRDE), Avadi, who will develop the FMBT, say it is impossible to build the FMBT 15 tonnes lighter while also improving crew protection; fitting a more powerful gun that can slam projectiles through improved enemy tanks; and making the FMBT faster and more powerful.

CVRDE director P Sivakumar told Business Standard during an exclusive briefing on the FMBT, that it would meet weight targets only if the army identified its inescapable needs rather than demanding every feature available. One example is crew protection. The FMBT will have a cutting-edge Active Protection System that detects incoming enemy projectiles (which travel faster than rifle bullets); and then fires a projectile to hit and degrade the incoming warhead. But the army also insists on the conventional armour plate that has traditionally protected tank crews.

“If you want a 50-tonne FMBT you must choose wisely. If your Active Protection System can reliably defeat enemy projectiles, why do you also want the heavy armour plating of passive systems? Whatever you use — composites, lightweight materials, etc. — the weight of the tank will rise. Similarly, how can you increase your tank gun’s ability to penetrate enemy tanks without a weight increase?” asks Sivakumar.

Difficult choices like these are delaying the finalisation of the FMBT’s Preliminary Staff Qualitative Requirements (PSQR), the document that will specify its capabilities and major systems. With nothing settled, the DRDO is readying for a heavier-than-planned FMBT. Business Standard reported yesterday that CVRDE is developing an 1800 Horse Power engine, rather than the 1500 HP needed for a 50-tonne FMBT.

While foreign consultancy will drive the engine design, CVRDE will play the central role in building a transmission system, which transfers engine power to the FMBT’s tracks. Sivakumar, himself an accomplished transmission designer, says that the CVRDE’s home-grown design will be vetted by a consultant, who will be chosen from three candidates: Ricardo; AVL; or US-based South West Research Institute.

“CVRDE has a tradition in transmission design. We built a 1500 HP transmission for the Arjun, which was not used because the engine design was changed. We have also built the “aircraft mounted accessory gearbox” that is standard fitment in the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft. It is 35 kg of magnesium alloy, spinning at 16,800 rpm. This gearbox has successfully completed some 3000 flights,” says Sivakumar.

The FMBT will be armed with India’s first smoothbore 120-millimetre tank gun. While the rest of the world has long used smoothbore guns — which fire anti-tank missiles and high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) rounds — the DRDO alone has stuck with rifled guns. There is confidence that the changeover will be smooth: the DRDO developed a smoothbore gun for the T-90 tank after Russia illegally blocked gun technologies. The DRDO is also working with Israel Military Industries (IMI), which developed the smoothbore gun for the Merkava tank.

Cushioning the FMBT’s ride will be one of the Arjun’s unique successes, its hydro-pneumatic suspension unit (HSU), which smoothens the jerks from driving fast over uneven cross-country terrain. The Arjun’s smooth ride allows its gun to accurately hit a suitcase two kilometres away while driving at 30 kmph. The initial FMBTs will have improved Arjun HSUs, while CVRDE proposes to develop an “active suspension” by 2030. This has sensors scrutinising the terrain just ahead of the tank and making anticipatory adjustments before the tank’s tracks roll over that area.

“The future is active suspension. The FMBT will initially roll out with hydro-pneumatic suspensions but we are commencing R&D for active suspension. It takes some time to develop a reliable active suspension. No tank has managed it so far,” says Sivakumar.

 

[zer_0]

PSU companies are on full trolling mode.

1st produce arjun mk2 then move on to FMBT.

 

[westtowel]

CVRDE DOWN DOWN

 

[jamesbaldwin]

I remeber hearing about this program a few months back apparently there is a lot of work going into this porject and they are looking at this adaptive camo from BAE or somthing similar but made in India:

 

[Norboo]

Wow! Expect the first prototype to start rolling by the year 2475! (And that's being rather optimistic!)

Just joking! Anyway, here it is....Whether it has ADAPTIV technology or some other esoteric stuff, I haven't the faintest clue!

 

[jha]

What is next for FMBT..? Will supercruise and will have zero Sonar signature while underwater... These CVRDE guys are no less culprit than DRDO...

 

[angeldemon_007]

^^^
You are forgetting laser guns....

 

[U.S Navy SEALs]

Hahaha, i love how the Indian members on this forum all take it as the biggest joke. No one's even had a serious post about this haha.

 

[sancho]

I stopped reading at:

has embarked on an ambitious mission

 

[ayesha.a]

When it finally rolls out, I'm sure this tank will fly higher than MKI, dive deeper than Chakra, be lighter than Tejas, stealthier than Raptor, faster than foxbats, fire ICBMs from the main gun while submerged etc etc. But until it comes, the army will be short of tanks and ammo for tanks.

That low man goes on adding nine to one,
His hundred's soon hit:
This high man, aiming at a million,
Misses an unit.

 

[1nd1a]

We should work towards making Arjun Mark II a success at this time....

 

[Don777]

It is going to be supper duper stealth, No one will be able to see it, no one be able to hear it, no one will be able to feal. fulll new funda of stealth so that no one will be able to use it, ecept the Sarkari babus in making money ;-(

 

[Skull and Bones]

^^^
Sometimes stealth and sometimes nanotech in the FMBT. Next Mr. Shivakumar will say we will make flying MBT...

I think right now, when they should at-least get the list of features that IA wants in FMBT, otherwise CVRDE will have to make changes at the later stage thereby increasing the development time.

There are already teams working on nanotech, CVRDE should join hands with them, because it would be foolish to develop nano products by themselves when they can use the progress of different lab in the same field.

As far as stealth goes, they will have to define how to approach this field. I mean if we are looking IR signature then BAE has already developed the tech. CVRDE should take benefit of BAE presence in India and increasing UK-India partnership in the defense research.

Hiding IR signature is very much possible, a layer of glass composite in between the armor layers will prevent engine heat signatures to reflect from the body, don't know much about hiding exhaust heat signature.

And optical stealth can be achieved by deploying crude LEDs, which will project the image of the opposite side. Many nations are working on the same principal.