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Does Indian Army need a new Main Battle Tank?

· 5 min read
DemonKiller
DemonKiller
High Performance Computing @ TeamEPCC

All opinions stated in this article are completely of my own.

So, does the Indian Army need a new main battle tank? The answer is pretty much yes, it does.

A main battle tank fulfills the role of armor-protected direct fire of many modern armies. It is the most important piece of equipment in any modern army. Many countries with tank building histories (such as USA, Russia, Germany, UK, etc) are continously developing advanced technologies, to improve the said vehicle. India operates roughly 5000 tanks today, all of which belong to the soviet/russian T-72 family. Around 2500 are the T72B models (Ajeya), and another 2500 roughly, are T90Ss, known as the Bhisma. The T90 is based on the T72 chassis, has modern equiement, and a newer cast hull. Hence it inherits the same types of flaws the T72s have.

note

Please note I am not talking about IFVs (infantry fighting vehicles), or APCs (armoured personnel carriers).

Flaws with the T72 family.​

1. Extremely poor reverse speed.​

The T72 series of tanks (T90 included) have extemely poor reverse speed.-4 KM/H. That is outrageous. Basically the T72 family tanks cannot peak and reverse back into cover, making them extremly vulnerable to enemy return fire.

2. Extremely poor gun depression​

Gun depression is a term referring to the capability of your gun to be tilted down towards the ground. The higher the negative value, the lower your gun can go. The T72 series tanks have poor gun depression. -4 to -5 degrees to be precise. This disables the T72 family tanks to play hull down, and give these tanks a huge disadvantage on hilly, sandy or any uneven terrain. Such terrains are available all across India.

3. No neutral steering​

Neutral steering is a tank steering concept where a tank can rotate on the spot as one track can move forward, while the other can move in reverse. Such a feature allows the tanks to be extremely manuevarable especially on the spot. In cases where the turret ring is disable, the tank can use this feature to aim the gun in desired direction. T72 family tanks, even the T90 lack neutral steering. Most modern MBTs have this feature.

4. Slow gun elevation/depression speed​

The speed at which you can lift or tilt your gun, up and down respectively, is called the elevation/depression speed. Tanks in this series have the slowest elevation/depression speed.

5. Very cramped interior​

The interior of the T72 family tanks are very cramped. While crew comfort plays an important role in their decision making, a cramped compartment brings more problems. Since the crew are so close to each other, a single well placed shot can take out the commander and gunner, or even worse, the driver as well.

6. Very easy to ammo-rack​

The T72 family features the carousel style autoloader. Due to higher gun caliber (125mm), the autoloader takes roughly 7 seconds to reload a new shell. That may not be the real problem. The problem is that all the ammunition in the single stage ammo stowage is stored right below the commander and gunner. As mentioned in the previous point, a well placed shot can not only penetrate the defenses of the tanks, but if the ammo stowage is hit, can cause a catastrophic explosion, often causing the turrets to pop off the hull.

7. Slow turret rotation speed​

Turret rotation speed is the speed at which a tank's turret can make a single 360 degree turn. The T72 family tanks have slower turret rotation speeds.

Arjun MBT, a solution to the problem?​

About Arjun MBT: (from wiki)

The Arjun is a third generation main battle tank developed by the Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), for the Indian Army. The tank is named after Arjuna, the archer prince who is the main protagonist of the Indian epic poem Mahabharata. Design work began in 1986 and was finished in 1996. The Arjun main battle tank entered service with the Indian Army in 2004. The 43rd Armoured Regiment, formed in 2009, was the first regiment to receive the Arjun.

Now, the Arjun is based of the german leopard 2A4. It too has it own set of flaws. However, it rectifies most of the flaws discussed above.

Leo2A4 in comparison with T72​

  1. The leopard 2 family have good reverse speed.
  2. Leo2A4 has gun depression of -9 degrees
  3. Has neutral steering
  4. Good gun elevation, depression speed
  5. Spacious interior, crew seperated
  6. Kind of easy to ammorack
  7. Good turret rotation speed

Problems with the Leo 2A4​

The Leo 2A4 is late 80s design. Since then, there have been massive upgrades to the Leopard 2 platform. The commanders sight for example is a huge weakspot from the front. The polish army rectified this problem by adding huge NERA blocks around it, minimizing the chance of the successful hit from distance, but still the weakspot remains.

Final Verdict: Should Arjun replace T72 & T90 in Indian Army?​

Yes. A big yes. Arjun may have it's problems that it inherits from the Leo 2A4 design, but it still solves majority of the problems the T72 family tanks have. Arjun's design will also have to work on compatibility with the army's logistics department. The ERA/NERA packages (Kanchan), also need to be tested against well known rounds such as DM53, KE-W, in collaboration with Germany and Australia (if it's possible). People complain about Arjun's weight. Adding NERA blocks to the 2A4 increased the 2PL's weight as well, it's going to be a thing we need to tackle, but not a thing to be criticized. I hope Arjun is deployed in more numbers.