Finance, Forex and Investments

Why is the Indian Army not accepting the indigenous Arjun MBT developed by DRDO?

They say they will not take more than the 124 already ordered and they'll take the Russian T series tanks spending over a Billion dollars. They have also refused to conduct a comparative test between the two Tanks. The Arjun is definitely superior in quality and is more comparable to the Us Abrams tank. Besides it's indeginous. Lots of money was spent on the R& D for this tank and now the Army refuses to take it. Should the Army be investigated for corruption, bribes that might have been given by Russians for the Billion dollar order? How is India to develop an Indiginous Defence industry if the money invested in R&D is not recovered? They don't appreciate the work done by DRDO scientists with very shoestring budgets and the Technology transfer prevention regime around the world. What is the point giving a Billion dollars of hard earned foreign exchange to Russia when the domestic alternative is of an even better quality?

Public Comments

1. The prototype is unable to meet certain requirements specified in GHQR. So improvements are incorporated and tested again. Any first time development (ab initio) takes time. These are the technicalities. All the points you have given are well worth taking into consideration. Unless indigenous effort is encouraged we will be nowhere. It is a fact, though, that the armed forces have developed a 'taste' for things foreign. The three organisations involved - Armed forces as users, DRDO as developers and manufacturers as suppliers (almost all of them are public concerns like the Tank factory at Avadi) have no meeting place except in a perfunctory manner. There is a need for these three to meet on regular basis if only to understand the needs and problems of the others. Each of them doesn't know the other's compulsions. Technology development is a laborious process involving a long lead time. It needs to be 'anticipated' in an institutionalised manner. When the armed forces are in need of some 'stores', they place order on an off-the-shelf item and get it quickly. This is the primary reason why DRDO loses the gambit. Newer methods are being adapted like 'concurrent engineering' but still the 'will' for indigenous development is lacking. Another thing is - it has come to pass that the 'West+Russia' are always the technological leaders in warfare technology. As on today it is impossible for India to be one, she has always been the follower. Standards (what are losely known as 'technologies') have always been set by them and not by Indians. A mentality has taken root amongst Indian Technological Leaders even, that unless an equipment measures up to the western standards, it is not OK. Almost all critical components are sourced from west where they are produced on massive scales making it acceptable on (a)cost & (b) proven performance and the consequent market acceptance. Technology needs to be tested in market. This adage is never appreciated in DRDO which is a sheltered organisation having no idea about the harsh sunlight of competitive production. A prototype developed by DRDO though a breakthrough, is looked down upon by the users whose academic achievements fall short of his DRDO counterpart. DRDO is being underrated as a incompetent and bad. But in reality they are developers and not suppliers. Suppliers are the manufacturers. This point is dismissed and not taken care of. The remedy is (as mentioned above) is a tri-partite forum (user/developer/manufacturer) to develop any weapon system indigenousely. Arjun is one of the best three, in the world. As such it needs some more time to mature into a perfect platform for operations of mechanised infantry. But as Kargil war has shown the chinks, we should also develop a light tank like the AMX-13 that was airdropped in Chushul sector in 1962 Sino-Indian war.