Among other things the PUSENKAV commander told me was how:
1.) The vehicle is rear heavy, so the vehicle moves with the elevated up by a few centimeters, limiting the driver's vision.
2.) It has too high of a profile.
3.) The turret is outclassed in firepower.
4.) The Army in unwilling to spend million-billions for what they see as only a marginal improvement over vehicles that they currently operate.
Like I said before, the Kaplan MT is more of a political project than an actual project born out of requirement by the Army. From the tone of his voice, the PUSENKAV commander implies that Pindad either did not consult them at all or only took basic inputs during the entire design process.
Actually my real gripe is with this statement, the one regarding the Russian vs Chinese fighter jet technology is just a snipe to show how easy it was to debunk a non factual opinion.
I know for a fact that Pindad worked very closely with Pussenkav during the design phase of the MMWT. The opsreq was from the Pussenkav and detailed specifications were also provided by them including but not limited to its STANAG protection level requirement, the calibre of the gun to be used, automotive performance, number of crews, even the placement of the engine. It would have been a commercial suicide for Pindad to develop the tank "without consulting or took only basic inputs" from Pussenkav, as they could end up spending millions of their own dollars on development costs only to see the user ended up refusing to buy their product.
The Pussenkav commander that you mentioned obviously did not paint the overall picture or hide certain details in the story, but boy am I not convinced of how he sounded way too much like what the media was saying about the tank.
1. How the tank was rear heavy and looked "mendongak" which was already explained by the designer himself that it was intentionally made that way to help the tank climb certain degrees of obstacles as per stated in the opsreq.
2. The high profile would have been a fatal flaw if the Harimau was designed as a tank destroyer like the Centauro, but Harimau was intended to act more in the battlefield fire support and flanking maneuver role.
3. Again, the decision to use the 105 mm was dictated by the tank's intended role. They could've installed the 120 mm gun if Pussenkav wanted a tank destroyer instead, but how many 120 mm rounds could the tiny turret hold as opposed the 105 mm rounds? Your Pussenkav commander must have known more about this than he make it out to be.
4. A tank designed in 2016 only had marginal improvements compared to the Scorpion which were purchased in the 1990's? I know a lot of people who will disagree with this statement almost immediately, but what do I know? Since you knew the head honcho, right? But please ask your Pussenkav commander friend about these "marginal" improvements, how marginal were these improvements exactly?