Posted on 11/28/2016 11:40:34 AM PST by C19fan
In the mid-1970s, India began development on a totally new, advanced main battle tank that would satisfy the needs of the countrys Armored Corps. An impressive combination of firepower, armor protection and mobility, the tank was to be Indias first indigenously produced tankand one of the best in the world. The service date for the tank, known as Arjun, was confidently set for 1985. Instead, the Arjun suffered a tortuously long development period spanning two centuries. The final result, introduced into the army twenty-six years later than originally planned, is a mess of a tank that not even the Indian Army wants.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...
Hey, that list was on GOOGLE. Aren't they the TRUTH-SAYERS of the world these days?
I WOULD go for the German tanks, myself. But, I'll go with what you wrote...top three.
The problem with this article is it assumes that the Indian Army opposes the Arjun SOLELY for technical issues. The Indian Army standardized on the T-72 and its variants since the late 70s. So that means training combat crews, maintenance and logistics personnel ans developing supply systems, rail and road transport frameworks for a three-man-crewed medium-sized tank armed with a 125-mm smooth bore gun.
The Arjun project was reworked in the late 80s from being a medium-sized tank when Pakistan was close to buying the M-1 Abrams to turning into a four-man-crewed “Western style” tank with a 120-mm rifled bore gun. Any army would hate to have to extremely different weapon systems and associated training and logistics systems.
Long story short, the article has some shreds of truth but has no clue on the background and loses the plot as a result.
https://battlemachines.wordpress.com/2015/06/27/arjun-indias-first-mbt/
http://ajaishukla.blogspot.in/2010/03/arjun-tank-outruns-outguns-russian-t-90.html
http://ajaishukla.blogspot.in/2007/09/desert-duel-that-wasnt.html
The author of the last two blogs was a tank officer in the Indian Army.
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