Article Posted on : - Aug 10, 2010

The Arjun Main Battle Tank.

NEW DELHI (BNS): Indian Army will procure 124 Arjun Mark II – the advanced version of the country’s Main Battle Tank (MBT) – from the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

The Army is placing an order for 124 Arjun Mark II MBTs in addition to an equal number of Arjun Mark I MBTs ordered earlier, Defence Minister A K Antony told Lok Sabha on Monday.

DRDO is designing the advanced version of the Arjun MBT which will have a number of modifications as desired by the Indian Army.

The Army has long sought a Futuristic Main Battle Tank (FMBT) in its arsenal. The FMBT, as per the Army’s requirement, should be equipped with high-powered lasers for taking on enemy rockets, aircraft and electro-optical sensors.

These capabilities might be deployed on the Arjun Mark-II project, which has been recently cleared by the Defence Ministry after the Army decided to place orders for another 124 Arjun MBTs with DRDO.

The Army has to date placed orders for 248 Arjun Mark I tanks of which 124 have already been delivered.

The order for additional 124 tanks was placed after the indigenous Arjun outperformed the Russian T-90 tanks during comparative trials in March and April 2010.

DRDO wants the Army to place orders for at least 500 Arjuns to recover its investments before starting work on the futuristic main battle tank for the service.