DRDO to deliver 79 tanks to Army

Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) in Avadi near Chennai will deliver 79 Arjun main battle tank (MBT), which was built indigenously by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), by March 2010. Each tank was built for Rs 19 crore.

After flagging off 16 MBT Arjun tanks from CVRDE, Avadi which was handed over to the Army, A Sivathanu Pillai, scientist and chief controller, research and development, DRDO, ministry of defence said total order placed by the army was 124 tanks. Of this 45 have been delivered. Remaining will be delivered by March 2010.

S Chandrasekar, additional DGOF (AV) said development started in March 1974. It took over three decades to develop the project. Delay is mainly due to several unexpected hindrances on account of foreign sanctions on India following its nuclear tests. Each tank was costing around Rs 19 crore.

The army placed the final order after tanks went through serious of test by Accelerated Usage Cum Reliability Trials in five phases on two tanks covering more than 8,000 km and 800 rounds of firing in each tank, he added.

The tanks will have 1400 HP engine, which was bought from Germany, and can travel at a speed of 70kms an hour and capable of firing upto 3-4 kms both in day and night times, K Sridhar, DRDO scientist and spokesperson CVRD. He added, import component, including engine, is 25-30 per cent.

Meanwhile Pillai said the defence forces plan to reduce their foreign dependency for developing their military equipments. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had set a target to gradually increase the indigenous content in defence equipments to 70 per cent from the current 30 per cent. According to studies good and services worth around $10 billion likely to be sourced within India for various defence requirements.

He added: “earlier our (India's defence equipment) requirements were dominated by foreign inflows which has started changing now. The country in the last few years has built its own capabilities.”

Pillai, said vessels for Indian Navy, combat aircrafts for the Indian Air Force, missiles, sensors, radars, weapon locator's, tanks, sonas and other electronic systems are now getting designed and developed within the country.

The major problem is procuring components for our deliverables, said Pillai. To address the issue a programme CODE (Components for Deliverables) was launched to increase the localisation.