T-90 S is a Dud, it can’t fire far enough.
27 April, 2007 (FIDSNS)
Russians T-9-0S sales brouchures boast of firing range of firing range of 100 to 5,000 meters, while T-90S deployed with Indian Army have problems hitting targets even as close as 1800 metres with Indian ammunition, as reported in Rediff,April 26, 2007. Rediff article further mentions “but there was no way to modify the tank’s fire control system to correct that. Asked to modify the FCS for Indian ammunition, the Russians pointed out that the T-90 contract had no such provision.”
In a twist of irony, T-90S is the same tank which Indian Army purchased citing problems with indigenous Main Battle Tank Arjun.
While Russians have been dragging their feet on the FCS rectification, the Ministry of Defence has threatened the Russians with not placing further orders of 347 T-90S tanks. Meanwhile the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been prompt to rectify the problems.
Indian Army has tested Arjun Tank for almost 10 years and kept complaining while it has inducted T-90S with same problems.
In an 8 part article, in november 2006, Indian Express cited Brigadier D K Babbar, the Army’s pointsman for the Main Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun project at the Mechanised Forces directorate until he retired last year from the 94th Armoured Brigade, “The Arjun tank has no future. It still cannot fire straight. The T-90, a far superior tank, can kill the Arjun. We would not cross any border with these tanks.”
Eyebrows are being raised on the manner of inductions by Indian Army. There is no independent body to moniter and varify the Indian Army equipment trials and hence no accountability. DRDO has been complaining about Indian Army’s attitude of lowering General Staff Qualitative Requirements (GSQR) for foreign vendors. This is not the first such incident. Krasnopol 155mm laser-guided shells bought by Indian Army proved to be defective.
T-90S is cited to be a knee jerk reaction toPakistani Army acquiring 320 T-80UD tanks from Ukraine. After securing initial contract Indian Army proposes 1000 T-90S tank strength. “The perplexing question is if Russian equipment does not performs, how can we believe that Ukrainian equipment performs better?” quipped a defence analyst. The Ukrainian factory which produced these tanks today produces tractors because of lack of order.
The same defence analyst also mentions of the hype being created on Al Khalid Tanks; “Al Khalid is a discarded design by the Chinese, reworked by Ukranians and it has a Ukranian engine. Pakistan after all the hype has failed to produce the tank in sufficient numbers. The tank has been demonstarted to Saudi Arabia with German MTU engines. In addition Bangladesh and Srilanka were offer these tanks. Nothing has materialised. Thesre is no proof that its a very potent tank.”
On being asked on Al Khalid and Arjun comparissions, the defence analyst said “there is no comparison between Al Khalid and Arjun tank. Al Khalid can be best compared to Indian T-72 latest upgrades. It will be foolist to compare the two tanks”.
On 5 April, 2007, Army Chief Gen J J Singh mentioned that the Army will soon receive 14 Arjun Main Battle Tanks and these will be put through a training exercise. But the fact that Indian Army lacks a comptetive bench mark to eveluate Arjun Tanks effectiveness.
The Hindustan Times in October 26, 2006, reported “army officers complained that the existing T-90S tanks faced “recurring” technical problems which were adversely impinging on the force’s operational preparedness.” The issues have not been ironed out yet.
Ministry of Defence has failed to secure Russian assurance on fixing the existing T-90S tanks. So the Ministry of Defence is now exploring private companies to fix the defective Russian supplied tanks wasting Indian tax payers money. co-incidently there is no private Indian company capable of taking such challenge. Even if any company does it, it will take years to fix it. The only Indian company which has experience in such issues is DRDO. Its clear that a foreign firm is expected to fix the T-90S problems.
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