India's Robot Tank: Turning the Arjun into a Battlefield Bot

Get ready for robot wars – well, sort of. India's top defense scientists are dreaming up a way to turn one of the country's most powerful tanks, the Arjun Mk 1A, into an unmanned fighting machine.

The Plan​

The Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) wants the Indian Army to greenlight their plan to create a tank that drives itself. Think of it as a super-tough, heavily armed robot built to rumble across the harsh deserts along India's western border.

Why a Robot Tank?​

Picture this: this unmanned tank could sneak around spying on enemies, pinpoint targets without putting soldiers in harm's way, and even deliver supplies to troops on the front lines or carry wounded soldiers to safety. Talk about a game-changer!

Tech Talk​

To make sure this robot tank doesn't get lost in the desert, the DRDO wants to equip it with its own special GPS system designed specifically for India.

The Big Picture​

This robot tank idea is part of India's big push to use more automated weapons and vehicles on the battlefield. If the army approves the project, it's on to the testing phase.

A successful "Arjun Bot" could totally reshape how the Indian Army fights, making things safer and more effective.

 

[NSR]

Global warming and temperatures are soaring so this UGV tank variant may save soldiers lives during dead summers.
But we do not even have enough new generation of tanks so it is a dream as usual.

Finally, No tanks, IFVs, APCs, WhAPs, etc are safe from Drones or Pinaka / Smerch / Himars types of armaments.

So India must crank up indigenous design and development efforts, and order every single damn thing from Indian companies only.
No more foreign maal at all.

 

[Sandeep]

Its possible that we can develop a unmanned ground vehicle to resupply the frontline with more ATGM, shells, ammunition, repairs, parts, logistics etc in a active war zone with bullets and rockets being fired regularly which would benefit but it wouldn't need to be a exact copy or version of the Arjun tank.

Other than that we can't use it for casualty evacuation as you need troops to load them and carry out first aid which doesn't make it unmanned anymore. Also for any surveillance, reconnaissance, target acquisition or navigation etc can be done by drones as they are easy to use, quick, cost effective and becomes a lesser or smaller target than a large and bulky UGV. Also having armoured vehicles are now at risk of being attacked, destroyed or heavily damaged by kamikaze drones, loiter munitions or drone fired missile etc.

India can just modify a BMP 2 or another indigenous armoured vehicle that is very fast, medium armour protected and uses a track rather than wheels. This will solve that problem. At the same time it's possible that they can develop a UGV tank, IFV, APC but they would be very complex to develop and take a long time to test the technology and equipment.

 

[Official]

An unmanned Arjun is as useful as a manned one. The design flaw still holds. Nearly all the militaries around India know the huge weakspot of Arjun and will aim for it. Fact is project arjun is dead and we need a mordernised design again. Unmanned Zoravar light tank outfitted with 2x 30mm cannons or 2x ATGM pods are far better at such roles.