Arjun winter trials successful: Govt

The winter trials of Arjun battle tanks were successful and 124 of these would be inducted into the Army by the end of the current fiscal, Government informed the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, Defence Minister A K Antony admitted that there has been a delay in the project development of the main battle tank (MBT) as it was first taken up in August 1972. However, “there is no question of any sabotage behind its delay and the winter (December 2007) trials were successful,” the Minister said. He said the project “was approved by Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) in March 1974… the project was successfully completed as MBT Arjun and closed in March 1995 at the end of 10 years with delivery of 12 prototypes and 15 pre-production series tanks”.

These tanks have covered 70,000 km of automotive trials and fired 7,000 rounds of ammunition with an average of 4,600 km and 460 rounds per tank, he said. “Only after successful trials, Army placed an indent for 124 MBT Arjun (tanks) to Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) in March 2000.” He told the Upper House that 14 tanks have been handed over to Army and 85 tanks are under various stages of production.