New Delhi: In yet another route to push ‘Make-in-India’ in the defence sector, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to dedicate the Main Battle Tank Arjun Mark 1A to the nation on Sunday.
“Prime Minister Modi would be dedicating the latest version of the Arjun tank to the nation on February 14 in Chennai at the tank production facility in Avadi,” a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials told India Today.
The Ministry of Defence has already cleared 118 Arjun tanks which would cost around Rs 8,400 crore to the exchequer for forming two regiments of the indigenous tank.
These 118 tanks will join the fleet of the first batch of 124 Arjun tanks which have already been inducted into the Army and deployed in the western desert along the Pakistan front.
The 118 Arjun tanks are also expected to form two regiments in the Armoured Corps of the Indian Army like the first 124 tanks.
Officials said the Army has reduced the number of tanks required for the formation of a tank regiment and that is why the current order has six tanks lesser than the previous order for two regiments.
The tank has been fully designed and developed by the DRDO in close coordination with the Indian Army.
The DRDO has been developing the Arjun Mark 1A for quite some time now and the project was hastened by both Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and DRDO chief Dr G Satheesh Reddy to increase the level of indigenous weapon systems in the armed forces.
The Arjun has been designed by the DRDO’s Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) and DRDO Chairman Satheesh Reddy will hand the first Arjun Mark 1A to Prime Minister Modi.
The tanks will be produced by the OFB’s Heavy Vehicles Factory Avadi and the first batch of five MBTs will be handed over to the Army within two-and-a-half years of the signing of the contract.
Earlier in February, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited’s second Light Combat Aircraft (LAC) production line in Bengaluru.
At the event, Rajnath Singh had said, “Tejas is not only indigenous, but it is also better than its foreign equivalents on several parameters, including engine capacity, radar system, beyond visual range (missile), air-to-air refuelling and maintenance, and is comparatively cheaper.”
The LAC Tejas, indigenously designed by Aircraft Development Agency (ADA) under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), is expected to be the backbone of the Indian Air Force in future and in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ mantra.