Arjun Mark II battle tank getting ready, first trials by June 2012
Chennai: The prototype of the Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT) Mark II will be ready for testing by June 2012, officials of the Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVR&DE), Avadi, have said. The Arjun MBT Mark I was tested in 1984.
Officials of the CVR&DE, the nodal design and development agency for the MBT, said Mark II was not only a improved version of Mark I but also had several unique features, including greater missile firepower and better protection. By the summer of 2012, we will come out with a prototype of Arjun Mark II for tests by the Army while the complete version will be ready by 2014, CVR&DE director P Sivakumar told The Times Of India.
On July 9, the first executive board meeting was held at the CVR&DE on finalizing the configuration for the Mark II where officials of the DRDO and CVR&DE reviewed progress made by various establishments towards meeting the various requirements of the Army. Besides the CVRDE, the expertise of several allied DRDO organisations was taken for developing the Mark II.
Of the 82 improvements requested over the earlier version, the CVR&DE has so far completed 21 improvements. Some of them are: substantial increase in the missile firing capacity, provisions for night vision and for enabling the crew to engage targets under static and dynamic conditions. Many of the improvements requested are technical in nature. The Mark I could engage targets only under static conditions. However, the Army wanted this version to engage in static and moving conditions so we incorporated them, said Sivakumar.
The new version will also have a explosive reactive armoury (ERA) that will help the crew identify explosives deployed by the enemy from a distance and take precautionary measures. The 12.7mm advance air defence gun and a new builtin power unit to reduce the noise generated are among the the other features.
The present MTB with the Army is covered with nets during operations. Mark II will have a perfect camouflage. We delivered 80 of the 124 Arjun Mark I tanks and will deliver the rest before March 2011. We have got orders for another 124 tanks, Sivakumar added.
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