MoD calls for probe into Arjun tank failure

Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh said on Thursday that the inquiry would examine all possible reasons behind the tardy performance. The two tanks that were undergoing accelerated user trials by the army suffered engine failures on four separate occasions.

“There was no engine failure during the past 15 years. Just when we are ready to induct it, the engines of both tanks that were undergoing trials failed. We will now look into all possibilities behind the failure,” Singh told The Indian Express.

Raising this point after an Army report slammed the “poor performance” of the Arjun during the recent round of winter trials, the minister underlined that there were no previous instances of engine failure when the tank was tested for thousands of kilometers in the Thar desert.

“When we ran it for thousands of kilometres in the desert at temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, there was no engine failure. Collectively, the 53 tanks produced have run for over 75,000 km. It is strange that the problem has surfaced now,” he said.

The minister’s statement came even as Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor and Defence Production Secretary Pradeep Kumar left for the Avadhi tank factory to examine the Arjun production line and sort out “quality issues”. The Army Chief is also expected to “personally examine” the tank at the factory.

Even as voices were raised within the defence establishment about the possibility of sabotage, the DRDO is being more cautious with senior officials saying that “production problems” with the tank may have led to the engine failures.

“There seems to be certain production problems and issues related to quality control that will be examined by the Army Chief,” a senior DRDO official said.