23-02-2021 | 13:29 PM
Arjun Main Battle Tank (Mk-1A)
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.
