There are a few engines that are already with the development agencies and they would be used to produce the initial tanks for the 118 tank order placed by the Defence Ministry…reports Asian Lite News
India is now planning to go for developing an indigenous power plant for Arjun Mark 1A tanks as the German engines used for powering the indigenous tanks are likely to be delayed by around four years.
“The German engine manufacturers have communicated that they would require around 48 months to restart the production of the engines used by the Arjun Mark 1A tanks to be used by the Indian Army for deployment mainly in the desert sector,” defence sources told ANI.
The agencies concerned are now trying to use the period of delay in the project to develop an indigenous engine that can be used for powering the Arjun Matk1As, they said.
There are a few engines that are already with the development agencies and they would be used to produce the initial tanks for the 118 tank order placed by the Defence Ministry.
In 2021, the defence ministry placed an order worth Rs 7,523 crore with Heavy Vehicles Factory, Avadi, for 118 locally made Arjun Mk-1A tanks,
The Indian plans to develop a light tank also faced minor delays due to delays in the supply of engines from Germany, forcing Larsen and Toubro and the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to go for an American Cummins engine.
“Indian agencies concerned have already started working on developing an engine for a futuristic main battle tank. The same engine may be utilised for the Arjun Mark 1A project but will need certain modifications and changes,” the officials said.
The Arjun Mk-1A is an upgraded version of the Arjun Mk-1 main battle tank (MBT) currently in army service.
The new tank is supposed to come with 72 upgrades over the existing variant, including 14 major improvements. The upgrades are set to enhance the tank’s lethality, mobility and survivability.
The Arjun features a 120 mm rifled main gun with indigenously developed armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding-sabot ammunition, one PKT 7.62 mm coaxial machine gun and a NSVT 12.7 mm machine gun. Powered by a single MTU multi-fuel diesel engine rated at 1,400 hp, it can achieve a maximum speed of 70 km/h (43 mph) and a cross-country speed of 40 km/h (25 mph).[16] It has a four-man crew: commander, gunner, loader and driver.
In 2010 and 2013, the Indian Army carried out comparative trials in the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, pitting the newly inducted Arjun MK1 against the Indian Army’s frontline Russian-designed T-90 tanks, during which the Arjun reportedly exhibited better accuracy and mobility.
The fire-control system (FCS) originally developed for the Arjun main battle tank has been integrated into the T-90 tanks built in India under a transfer of technology (ToT) agreement by the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) at Avadi. (ANI)
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