DAC clears 118 main battle tanks for

Prime Minister had formally handed over the Arjun Mk-1A to Army 8,379 cr

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday accorded Acceptance of Necessities (AoNs) to proposals worth

`13,700 crore including indigenous main battle tank Arjun

Mk-1A.

The DAC accorded AoNs for

118 indigenous Arjun Mk-1A tanks for Indian army worth

`8,379 crore.

This is the second biggest “Make-in-India” project cleared in 2021 after the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) last month

approved procurement of 83 Tejas Mk-1A fighter jets for the Indian Air Force (IAF) in a deal worth around `48,000 crore.

The tank has been fully designed and developed by the DRDO in close coordination with the Indian Army.

Last week Prime Minister Narendra Modi had formally

handed over to the Army the Arjun Mk-1A in Chennai.

The Indian Army will now issue Request for Proposal (RFP) to DRDO and after which a contract will be signed.

The Arjun Mk-1A tanks would be joining the fleet of the first batch of 124 Arjun tanks which have already been inducted into are deployed desert along front.

Arjun Mk-1A has 72 improvements over the existing version, of which 14 are major upgrades.

The 118 Arjun tanks would also form two regiments in the Armoured Corps of the Indian Army like the first 124 tanks. Arjun Mark 1-A is equipped with a 120mm main gun and weighs 68 tonnes.

The Arjun has been designed by the DRDO’s Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) based out of Chennai. the Army and in the western

the Pakistan

“To meet the Atmanirbhar Bharat goals of the government on time-bound defence procurement process and faster decision making and to systematically work towards reducing the time taken for capital acquisition, the DAC also approved that all capital acquisition contracts (delegated and non-delegated) other than design and development (D&D) cases shall be concluded in two years,” said defence ministry in a release.

It said that the ministry, in consultation with the services and all stakeholders, will come up with detailed plan of action for achieving the same.