(NSI News Source Info) TORONTO, Canada - August 20, 2010: India has begun working on its next generation battle tank. Called the FMBT (Future Main Battle Tank), this vehicle aims to build on the success of the last Indian designed tank, the Arjun. This worries many Indian taxpayers, and soldiers. That's because the government recently ordered another 124 Arjuns. That came about because recent competitive tests between the Indian designed Arjun and Russian T-90 tank resulted in an unexpected victory by the Arjun. The Indian Army was compelled (by pro-Arjun politicians) to conduct a field test between the domestically designed (and largely rejected) Arjun tank, and the Russian T-90 (now considered the army's primary tank). Fourteen of each tank were used, and the results were classified. But journalists had no trouble getting unofficial reports that the Arjun managed to best the T-90 in tests of mobility, endurance and gunnery.This was unusual because, until now, the Arjun was considered an expensive and embarrassing failure. Development of the Arjun began in the 1980s, and until four years ago, the army had received only five of them, for evaluation purposes. The evaluation did not go well. Originally, the Arjun was to have replaced thousands of Russian tanks, but after so many delays, the army only reluctantly accepted 128 Arjuns (equipping the 140th Armored Brigade). The new test reports resulted in renewed pressure on the army to buy more Arjuns. This pitted the Defense Ministry weapons development and procurement bureaucrats against the generals. The bureaucrats won this one. But the battle continues. That's because the recent tests assume that the Arjun has really fixed all the problems it was having with its electronics. In this case, it was the fire control system. But Arjun has also had problems with its engine, and that fact that its size and weight prevents it from being used with current tank transporters. Thus the FMBT is to be lighter (50 tons) and based on what works in the Arjun and other modern tanks. The FMBT is expected to replace older Russian tanks.
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