The much-derided tank has been fitted with new features and has come out with flying colours during trials

At a firing point of the Defence Research & Development Organisation’s (DRDO) 114-year-old Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE) — a strip of secluded beach in Chandipur — the Nakul tank with the MBT Arjun’s turret and the Russian T-72’s chassis readies to fire its 120-mm cannon to test target-grouping and ammunition. Several thundering rounds later, DRDO scientists are back in the lab to analyse. The result: satisfactory.

Envisioned as India’s first indigenous Main Battle Tank (MBT) in 1972 following the ‘71 Indo-Pak war, Arjun has been in the line of fire for under-performance from the Army over the past decade. Now, scientists at the proof-testing PXE in Chandipur and main developer Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) in Avadi, Tamil Nadu are upbeat about Arjun’s performance before it takes on the Russian T-90 in comparative trials this summer.

Maj Gen Anup Malhotra, director, PXE, said much of the “teething troubles” of the Arjun have been overcome. “Over the past year, we have been testing the barrel, recoil and breech of the Arjun’s firing mechanism, as well as the ammunition. Between 60-70 barrels have been tested here. The tests are satisfactory, and we will be sending the results to the CVRDE, which is developing the tank. If the Army has objected in the past on certain aspects, they are correct in doing so. If they want to evaluate, it is a good sign. Better now than in battle,” Malhotra said.

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