Acquisition of 118 Arjun tanks cleared

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the main battle tank Arjun Mark 1A to the nation, the defence ministry on Tuesday cleared the acquisition of 118 tanks worth over ₹6,000 crore for the army, officials aware of the developments said.

“The defence ministry considered the proposal in the defence acquisition council meeting held in presence of the chief of defence staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat and army chief Gen Manoj Mukund Naravane,” defence officials said.

The ministry had recently cleared the induction of 118 Arjun Mark1A tanks into the army.

The tank has been fully designed and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation in close coordination with the Indian Army.

As many as 118 tanks would be joining the fleet of the first batch of 124 Arjun tanks which have already been inducted into the army and are deployed in the western desert along the Pakistan front.

The 118 Arjun tanks would also form two regiments in the Armoured Corps of the Indian Army like the first 124 tanks, officials cited above said.

Officials said the army has reduced the number of tanks required for the formation of a tank regiment and that is why the present order has six fewer tanks than the previous order for two regiments.

The project being hastened by both CDS Gen Rawat and DRDO chief Dr G Satheesh Reddy to increase the level of indigenous weapon systems in the armed forces. The Arjun tank has been designed by the DRDO’s Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) in Chennai.