India's Tank Plan Clouds Future of Arjun

Source : http://www.defensenews.com

NEW DELHI — The Indian Army's plan to develop and build a medium-weight main battle tank to replace more than 2,500 Russian T-72s has raised questions about the future of the homemade Arjun tank and likely would kill a decade-old proposal by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to build a tank, according to analysts and officials.

The Indian Army this month floated a global request for information to seek partners to design the new tank under a program called Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV). As a medium-weight platform it would weigh 40-plus tons, compared with the Arjun, which weighs 60 tons.

"The proposed FRCV is in the medium category and is more likely to be around the T-90 platform than the Arjun Mark-II platform, which is getting close to the medium-heavy/heavy category," said Anil Chait, retired Indian Army lieutenant general. "Designing and developing the product around proposed qualitative requirements afresh would suggest that we may be looking toward the end of the Arjun saga," he said.

However, Rahul Bhonsle, a retired Army brigadier general and defense analyst, said the Arjun will progress from the current Mark-1 level to Mark-3.

"The lead time for the FRCV to be manufactured, if all goes well, is likely to be approximately 15 years or so. This provides adequate scope for the Arjun series to be progressed to at least Mark-3. Moreover, there is a need in the Indian Army for an Arjun class of tank."

While no Ministry of Defence official would comment on the fate of the decade-old Futuristic Main Battle Tank (FMBT) project to be developed by DRDO, an Army official said FRCV has "surely killed" the FMBT.

The FMBT, intended to be in the 50-plus ton category, was also meant to replace the T-72s.

"The FRCV seems to be a completely new project which possibly junks the FMBT, which was being worked upon by the DRDO or may be a lead to the developing agency to add on to the existing work that has already been done on the same," Bhonsle said.

"I surely see Americans, Russians, French, Germans, Koreans and British participating along with Indian companies in stand-alone or joint venture mode. We could see leading companies from there which are involved with tank design, participating in it," Chait said.

Unlike the earlier tank effort, the FRCV does not restrict production to the DRDO. Domestic defense companies in tie-ups with overseas defense companies can serve as the production agencies.

"As this is an open competition, private agencies could also be roped in to develop the tank. The best option would be for DRDO designing and developing the same with a foreign partner as it is best placed technically to do so. For an Indian private company in collaboration with a foreign partner it would be a Greenfield venture," where the foreign company would construct new facilities for the project, Bhonsle said.

The Army plans to begin induction of the basic FRCV by 2025-27, which would be the platform on which numerous variants would be developed to serve different functions. These variants will include a tracked light tank, a wheeled version, a bridge layer tank, a trawl tank and mine plows, armored recovery vehicle, self-propelled gun, anti-aircraft tank, artillery observation vehicle, engineer reconnaissance vehicle, and armored ambulance.

According to the request for information, FRCV will be executed in three stages: design, prototype developmental and production.

The request says the design agency and developing agency can be separate entities. The best design will be chosen and given to the nominated development agency for prototype production. The selected prototype will be given to the production agency or agencies for bulk production.

Shankar Roy Chowdhury, retired Army general and former service chief, said the paramount requirement for the tank is survivability.

"Russian designers sought to achieve this [survivability] by smaller size [three-man crew and lighter armor], lower profile and speed. The West preferred larger turrets, hence thicker armor, heavier tanks. The test for both designs has been the Arab-Israeli wars and the gulf war. The Russian designs did not do too well. Blame that on the crews if you like," Roy Chowdhury said.

The most important requirement, however, is that the future FRCV must be indigenously designed, Roy Chowdhury said.

Russia's new missiles to overcome any type of missile defense systems

Source : http://english.pravda.ru

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Russian Armed Forces would receive more than 40 intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2015, Interfax reports. 

Putin said at the opening of the international military-technical forum "Army 2015" that the new missiles would be capable of overcoming any, even most technically advanced missile defense systems.

According to the Russian President, Russia "was paying and will be paying special attention to the implementation of a large-scale state program of armaments and modernization of the defense complex."

President Putin also said that Russia would build two new radar hubs. In April, the works on the project were launched in the town of Armavir. The tests of the new radar hub to detect beyond-the-horizon air targets will be conducted in the next coming months.  The hubs will be built both for western and eastern strategic direction. 

Meanwhile, the Russian army started receiving first units of armored vehicles on standardized platforms, the combat capabilities of which have no analogues in the world. It goes about such military vehicles as Armata, Kurganets, Boomerang, as well as self-propelled Coalition SV vehicles. 

As part of the "Army 2015" military forum, participants discussed prospects of the Russian defense industry, production of new weapons and modernization of the Russian Armed Forces. The Russian president stressed out that by 2020, Russia's military arsenal would be replenished with state-of-the-art models of military hardware. 

Noteworthy, Russia's Nevsky Design Bureau has developed a project of a new amphibious assault ship that is said to replace the French Mistrals. 

"The versatile amphibious ship by the Nevsky Design Bureau, known as the Priboi project, with a displacement of 14,000 tons, will be able to carry up to eight Ka-52K and Ka-27 helicopters. Its construction is scheduled to begin next year," a source from the defense industry said on conditions of anonymity.

According to the source, the Priboi ship will be armed with Pantsir-M anti-aircraft complex. The vessel will be able to carry up to 500 paratroopers and about 40-60 units of hardware. The ship will be 25 meters wide and 165 meters long. 

Pravda.Ru has reported before that Paris refused to deliver two Mistral type helicopter carries to Russia because of political disagreement that appeared as a result of the Ukrainian crisis. The contract is worth 1.2 billion euros. Under the terms of the contract, France will have to pay a penalty in the amount of 10 billion euros. During most recent negotiations, French representatives offered Russia to "forget" about the Mistral ships for 785 million euros. 

US Deploys Heavy Weaponry in Europe; Russia to 'Answer Adequately'

Source : http://sputniknews.com

Russia will provide an ‘adequate answer’ to the deployment of the US heavy weaponry in Eastern Europe and the Baltics, a senior Defense Ministry official said on Monday, commenting on earlier claims that the Pentagon is poised to station battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weaponry in several Eastern European countries.

“In case the US heavy weaponry, including battle tanks, artillery systems and other combat weaponry is going to be deployed in a number of Eastern European countries and the Baltics, it is going to be the most aggressive step of Pentagon and NATO since the end of the last century's Cold War,” the Russian media quoted Yuri Yakubov, the Coordinator of the Department of the General Inspectors of the Russian Defense Ministry, as saying.

“And there will be nothing left for Russia but to build up its might and means at strategic western locations,” added the senior Defense Ministry official.

Russia will commence by reinforcing its military along the perimeter of its Western border, including new tank, artillery and aviation units.

The Russian Ground Forces’ guided missile brigade stationed in the westernmost Kaliningrad region will be promptly reequipped with the Iskander-M ballistic missile systems, Yakubov added, and Russia’s combined forces in Belarus will also be considerably reequipped.

The announcement comes as a comment following US media speculation that “the Pentagon is poised to deploy battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other heavy weapons for up to 5,000 US troops in Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries.”

As the media put it, "a company's worth of equipment — enough for about 150 soldiers — would be stored in each of the three Baltic nations: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Enough for a company or possibly a battalion — about 750 soldiers — would be located in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and possibly Hungary".

The senior Defense Ministry official however stressed that Russia has completely withdrawn from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe and won’t be bound by any lateral restrictions, as it was earlier, on the number of tanks, aircraft or artillery systems it was allowed to have in its near-border territories.

“We have completely withdrawn from this treaty which many European countries have not stuck to and we have a free hand in organizing responsive measures and strengthening our western borders,” he said.

The Kremlin so far has not commented on the issue.

“There was no official announcement from the US, therefore I have nothing to say. We will comment when there is any,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday