Poor Israeli parts delay Arjun Mk-II

[RPK]

Poor Israeli parts delay Arjun Mk-II - The Times of India


HYDERABAD: After the recent heartburn with Israeli counterparts in the Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR SAM) and Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MR-SAM) joint ventures which has resulted in delay of delivery in both these cases, Defence Research and Development Organisation, the premier defence research establishment in the country, is finding another of its major project, the Main Battle Tank Arjun Mk-II, hanging in the balance. DRDO is attributing the delay to the unsatisfactory functioning of some Israeli components, the major amongst these being the Laser Homing Attack (LAHAT) Missile.

According to official sources, almost 55 to 60% of the components and major part of the technology in Arjun Mk-II MBT are imported starting from the design to engine and the engine transmission system, gun barrel, computer-controlled integrated fire control system, the tracks, the suspension, and the Muzzle Reference System etc.

The German engine of Arjun Mk-I has again been integrated in Mk-II despite claims of an indigenous engine, as per the sources. When contacted, officials attributed this adjustment to the small order and that a separate plant for manufacturing engines cannot come up for such a restricted order. Sources revealed that Arjun Mk-II has a long way to go before being accepted by the Indian Army.

DRDO had recently launched its Arjun Mk-II for user trials in Rajasthan after integrating the same with almost 75-80 improved features including 16 major technologies as sought by the Indian Army which has already inducted 124 of the Arjun Mk-I tanks. DRDO has been developing Arjun MBT with help of its various labs led by Chennai-based Combat Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (CBRED) while Hyderabad-based Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory of DRDO has developed the armour for Mk II version of Arjun. The development trials have been on for the past more than two years.

Apart from accuracy, smoke emanating from the Israeli LAHAT missile has been an issue of concern with both the developers as well as the users of Arjun Mk-II. "Israeli counterparts have been conveyed the issues and asked to rectify the problems at the earliest," was all Avinash Chander, secretary, defence research and development and director general, DRDO, could say.

Arjun Mk-II, the futuristic main battle tank, has been touted as one of the most potent combat tanks for the Army with unmatched automatic target detection and destruction while offering maximum protection to the crew in addition to impressive speed and maneuverability.

 

[BDforever]

Poor Israeli parts delay Arjun Mk-II - The Times of India


According to official sources, almost 55 to 60% of the components and major part of the technology in Arjun Mk-II MBT are imported starting from the design to engine and the engine transmission system, gun barrel, computer-controlled integrated fire control system, the tracks, the suspension, and the Muzzle Reference System etc.

interesting

 

[IND151]

Poor Israeli parts delay Arjun Mk-II - The Times of India


HYDERABAD: After the recent heartburn with Israeli counterparts in the Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile (LR SAM) and Medium Range Surface-to-Air Missile (MR-SAM) joint ventures which has resulted in delay of delivery in both these cases, Defence Research and Development Organisation, the premier defence research establishment in the country, is finding another of its major project, the Main Battle Tank Arjun Mk-II, hanging in the balance. DRDO is attributing the delay to the unsatisfactory functioning of some Israeli components, the major amongst these being the Laser Homing Attack (LAHAT) Missile.

According to official sources, almost 55 to 60% of the components and major part of the technology in Arjun Mk-II MBT are imported starting from the design to engine and the engine transmission system, gun barrel, computer-controlled integrated fire control system, the tracks, the suspension, and the Muzzle Reference System etc.

The German engine of Arjun Mk-I has again been integrated in Mk-II despite claims of an indigenous engine, as per the sources. When contacted, officials attributed this adjustment to the small order and that a separate plant for manufacturing engines cannot come up for such a restricted order. Sources revealed that Arjun Mk-II has a long way to go before being accepted by the Indian Army.

DRDO had recently launched its Arjun Mk-II for user trials in Rajasthan after integrating the same with almost 75-80 improved features including 16 major technologies as sought by the Indian Army which has already inducted 124 of the Arjun Mk-I tanks. DRDO has been developing Arjun MBT with help of its various labs led by Chennai-based Combat Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (CBRED) while Hyderabad-based Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory of DRDO has developed the armour for Mk II version of Arjun. The development trials have been on for the past more than two years.

Apart from accuracy, smoke emanating from the Israeli LAHAT missile has been an issue of concern with both the developers as well as the users of Arjun Mk-II. "Israeli counterparts have been conveyed the issues and asked to rectify the problems at the earliest," was all Avinash Chander, secretary, defence research and development and director general, DRDO, could say.

Arjun Mk-II, the futuristic main battle tank, has been touted as one of the most potent combat tanks for the Army with unmatched automatic target detection and destruction while offering maximum protection to the crew in addition to impressive speed and maneuverability.

Hope this issue gets solved.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Interesting ..

Bookmarked.

 

[SOHEIL]

What is the point of using israeli parts !?

 

[BDforever]

What is the point of using israeli parts !?

calling indigenous

 

[faithfulguy]

What is the point of using israeli parts !?

If India is not capable of producing the parts, than India need to import them to put it in its indigenous tanks.

Its note worthy that the fate of India's indigenous tanks and planes is on foreign parts. If these foreign parts do not come through, than the indigenous weaponry is kaput.

No wonder Indian military favors foreign weapons so they won't have to deal with poor systems integration of India arms production.

 

[Dem!god]

ahhhh...Garrrr....
same issue arising for all major desi things....why does this gov. don't allow private companies to invest...
why to try to depend on too much on PSU's...

 

[fsayed]

Army dithers over futuristic tank, DRDO pursues engine | Business Standard
India’s Future Main Battle Tank (FMBT), the backbone of the army’s strike power into the mid-21 st century, languishes while the army continues an extended debate over its specifications.

A year ago, on December 6 2010, Defence Minister A K Antony told the Lok Sabha that the army had formulated the FMBT’s specifications and the Defence R&D Organisation (DRDO) was carrying out feasibility studies. Antony, it now emerges, misled parliament. MoD sources say the army remains undecided about the basic features of the FMBT, including whether it should have three crew members or four. Consequently, the army has not finalised the FMBT’s Preliminary Staff Qualitative Requirements (PSQR), essential for sanctioning the project and allocating funding.

The PSQR also allows engineers to begin designing the FMBT. It specifies the tank’s capabilities and components, including its weight; dimensions; mobility; weaponry; armour protection; communications; and any special capabilities that are required, e.g. the ability to drive underwater; or operate on a nuclear battlefield.

FUTURE MAIN BATTLE TANK (FMBT)
* Army has not finalised FMBT specifications
* Tank required by 2020, when T-72s start retiring
* DRDO has begun work on 1,500 HP engine
* Ricardo, AVL are potential design consultants
* Indian industry partner will manufacture engine
* Planning ahead for tandem “hybrid” engine


But the DRDO has begun work, anxious to shield the FMBT from the delays that plagued the Arjun programme. The FMBT must roll out by 2020, when the army’s oldest T-72 tanks, which entered service in 1979, complete their 32-year service lives. Business Standard was granted exclusive permission to visit the Combat Vehicles R&D Establishment (CVRDE), the DRDO facility outside Chennai where the Arjun Mark II is nearing completion and the FMBT will be developed.

P Sivakumar, CVRDE’s livewire director, revealed that work had begun on crucial FMBT systems, even without a PSQR. Based on the army’s weight limit of 50 tonnes for the FMBT, the DRDO has launched a “mission mode” project to develop an 1,800 Horse Power (Hp) indigenous engine. Sivakumar says 1500 Hp is sufficient for a 50-tonne tank, but the endemic danger of weight over-runs in a new tank makes a 300 Hp margin prudent.

The project will co-opt domestic engineering companies like Kirloskar Oil Engines, BEML, and the Mahindras; research institutions like IITs; and bodies like the Automotive Research Association of India, Pune. An Indian “prime contractor” would assemble the FMBT engines from engine components supplied by a network of sub-contractors.

“India has never designed engines; engine technology has always been imported. But we will develop the FMBT engine as a national project. Our approach is not engine-specific; we are looking at developing the complete range of technologies needed for building engines. Not only design… but also manufacturing, testing, evaluation,” says Sivakumar.

This ambitious plan is cushioned with pragmatism. The DRDO has brought in international consultants to design the engine and build Indian manufacturing capability in engine-related fields. Sivakumar says that German companies MTU and Renk, which supply engines and transmissions for the Arjun tank, refused to provide consultancy, realising that building Indian capability would end their market here. DRDO is now evaluating consultancy proposals from Ricardo of Britain and AVL of Austria.

“Simultaneously, we have floated an Expression of Interest (EoI) to identify an Indian manufacturing partner. The consultant we select will work in a consortium with the DRDO; the army; and the Indian manufacturing partner, who will be associated with the programme from the design stage itself. We have allowed the consultants to visit manufacturing companies and report on their capability to build a modern engine,” explains Sivakumar.

The CVRDE director says the consultants will finalise the engine design within 12 months, and take 18 months more to build the first prototype. “Within 30 months, or three years maximum, the first engine would be ready for testing,” he says.

“Both Ricardo and AVL have proposed that they design and build the first prototypes. But the Indian industry will work alongside the consultant. The first design is never perfect; so the consultant will make the changes needed in design, tolerances, or materials to refine the engine. Then, in the second phase, the Indian partner will produce the engine,” says Sivakumar.

Even as CVRDE develops this technological capacity, it is looking further ahead at a hybrid engine for the FMBT after 2030. Sivakumar says that a tank remains static for at least 40 per cent of the time in battle, during which time its engine idles. “This means that 40 per cent of the time, you wastefully run a 1,500 Hp engine, guzzling diesel and giving away the tank’s position, while you need very little power for running electricals like the radios and gun control equipment or for moving the tank slowly. So, we are evolving a hybrid technology concept in which the tank will have two engines: a 500 Hp engine for low power mode and another 1,000 Hp engine that kicks in when high power is required, e.g. for manoeuvring in battle,” explains the CVRDE director.

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

It though it is atleast 70pc indigenous.

 

[BDforever]

It though it is atleast 70pc indigenous.

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

I have just counter trolled in ur thread

 

[BDforever]

I have just counter trolled in ur thread

and you called other guy because you can not by yourself it shows my supremacy of troll

 

[SOHEIL]

and you called other guy because you can not by yourself it shows my supremacy of troll

 

[AMCA]

What more can you expect from TOI..

According to official sources, almost 55 to 60% of the components and major part of the technology in Arjun Mk-II MBT are imported starting from the design to engine and the engine transmission system, gun barrel, computer-controlled integrated fire control system, the tracks, the suspension, and the Muzzle Reference System etc.

1. A local transmission is under trials and it is envisioned to ultimately replace the Renk-supplied unit
2. The tracks which were being supplied by German company Diehl are now being manufactured by L&T
3. The computerized fire control system aboard Arjun has been jointly developed by DRDO with the Elbit,Israel
4. Gun Barrel - DRDO
5. Suspension - Its one Area where DRDO is proud to have developed a Hydopnumatic suspension.
6. Muzzle Reference System : DRDO has already developed one for Ajeya and I do not believe that the same is imported for Arjun.

To those who have bookmarked and are happy will probably be cursing me right now..