Austin wrote:Karan I wont be too worried if we are opting in worst case for 3BM42 considering what we know now the Mk1 and Mk2 rounds for Arjun has 400 - 500 mm the figures for 3BM42 is respectable .
No, thats wrong.. See, the Arjun MK1 round has ~450-500 mm performance depending on the target, range etc, usually 2 km, because it was developed at the same time as the MK1 125mm round. I have given the dates earlier, you can check them out for the history. Thereafter, the Indian MK1 round (still available on the OFB website) had its production stopped, as production shifted to the Israeli round which was an improved version of the Israeli rounds imported during the Kargil conflict. The OFB's disastrous mix-and-match with Russian propellant (which leaked) and a couple of rounds brewed up in the tanks, didn't help the round either. The DRDO design left the propellant sourcing to OFB, with the CCC cases, and penetrator sourced locally. The round was fixed, and production restarted, but the perception damage was done, and the Army jumped ship to the Israelis thereafter, once the latter promised to give TOT of an even better round than they had supplied during Kargil. Of course, the long term virtues of depending on TOT and what if it did not work out, were beyond the IA's concern.
Anyways, the Arjun MK2 round - in development, will clearly be far ahead of the MK1 level, which we can judge from current DRDO technology level. For instance, the MK2 125mm round, is designed to match the IMI round which was assembled at India. This can be verified by the technical specifications. The IMI round and the DRDO 125mm MK2 round, both come in at 20:1 l:d for the penetrator.
Incidentally, the Arjun round by virtue of being one piece also enjoys an advantage. As shown earlier, the DRDO unitary round actually allows for almost ~1kg more of propellant, which is another plus. In contrast, when splitting rounds up into two piece systems, the packaging material gets duplicated. Longer rounds with even better l:d can be incorporated in the future.
The main challenge will be basically to get series production underway, but its not insurmountable by any means. For one, using the Arjun MK1, DRDO proved the entire ammunition development and manufacture cycle, including the penetrators at HAPP. Even with the 125mm, luckily, despite the Israeli TOT for penetrators not having worked out, the rest of the round was made in India. There are also two private firms in India which make the CCC (Combustible Charge Cases) for the 120 and 125mm rounds. Also, thanks to TD programs at ARDE per public reports, they have kept apace with propellant tech. Note after the other disaster of the Denel BMCS deal at OFB (Denel and then IMI got blacklisted), the tech is to be provided by ARDE.
So, the technology exists and is probably in trials already. "Enhanced penetrator" - code speak for FSAPDS penetrator - is one of the core improvements for MK2. Per an interview with Saraswat, 80% of MK2 improvements have already been delivered for testing. The interview should be around the forum someplace. The MK2 also entered the second phase of trials recently.
Point is a lot is going on without the sort of PR, export oriented organizations make. The interview above for instance has the blue turbaned gentleman (Brigadier) mention that an urban combat kit for the Arjun has also been developed and put on a trial tank! Ready for the Army if it wants. In all likelihood a better version of the BUSK shown for the BMP.
Probably the IA thinks it is good enough against its potential adversary with Invar to back it up , may be new rounds might have better figures we wont know for sure , may be if OFB lic manuf it we might know better.
The IA certainly does not think anything of the sort, they are just making do with the best of a worst situation, for which they share part of the blame, having sat on the development of a local round!
Cynics would argue that they did not push for the DRDO MK2 round because the obvious fear was that if the round cleared trials, DRDO would push for it to supplant the Israeli round in production and the Army just didn't want its easy supply of rounds to be affected. Others would state it was typical IA inertia and filepushing gone awry, with vital plans falling through the cracks. Eitherway, the chickens came home to roost when the Israeli round got cancelled.
Eitherways, the Army does NOT have an options today beyond BM42, since there is no other round available easily, in number, off the open market. Note India itself went for the Israeli round because it outperformed the Russian rounds available to us, and the Israelis promised that they would transfer TOT (didn't really work out) and as usual convinced us that they had more rounds in the pipeline.
The INVAR is our great hope, because with a large warhead and a tandem one, its the only round that can at least face off against the newer ERA heavy Chinese tanks (and Pakistani tanks are just export versions with tweaks). Its big problem is its time of flight. With LWCS, the Chinese tanks can pop smoke and attempt to escape...on the plus side, they don't have proper active countermeasures systems, so if it hits, the INVAR will create a mess. If not destroy the tank outright, it may well M-kill it.
Most certainly banning IMI or Rheinmetall is the worst decision one can take or get in this situation.
What else can one say about the brilliance that is Indian procurement.
BTW would Rheinmetal export its APFSDS to a non-NATO country
Times have changed. Our tax money has made many of these worthies see India in a new light. From new variants of HDW submarines, to EF Typhoon with TOT, everything is on the table.
in addition Konkur-M (10000) are being procured too. 