Arjun Main Battle Tank (Mk-1A)

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Context

Recently, the Prime Minister of India has handed over the indigenously developed Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT) MK-1A to the Indian Army at a ceremony in Chennai.

Key Highlights 

• The army will get 118 units of the Main Battle Tank, indigenously designed, developed and manufactured by CVRDE and DRDO along with 15 academic institutions, eight labs and several MSMEs.

• The Arjun MBT Project was initiated by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in 1972 with the Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) as its lead laboratory. 

• The objective of this project was to create a “state-of-the-art tank with superior fire power, high mobility, and excellent protection".

• The Arjun MBT is equipped with an indigenously developed 120mm main rifled gun with Fin Stabilised Armour-Piercing Discarding Sabot (FSAPDS) ammunition.

  • FSAPDS is capable of destroying all known tank armour up to direct shooting range.

• Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT) MK-1A also has a computer-controlled integrated fire control system with stabilised sighting which works in all lighting conditions.

• The secondary weapons include a coaxial 7.62-mm machine gun for anti-personnel and a 12.7-mm machine gun for anti-aircraft and ground targets.

• The Mk-1A version has 14 major upgrades on the earlier version and it is also supposed to have missile firing capability as per the design.

• The biggest achievement with the latest version is 54.3% indigenous content against the 41% in the earlier model.

• The newly developed Kanchan modular composite armour gives all-round protection to the tank from anti-tank ammunition. Kanchan has been manufactured by Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) which is a DRDO Laboratory.