24 March 2014

News Story: Indian-made Arjun Mk II main battle tank could enter in service with the Indian army in 2016

Arjun MK II MBT (Wiki Info - Image: Wiki Commons)

The Arjun MK II main battle tank for the Indian Army may get delayed further than its pre-fixed 2016 induction date. A key source in the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) said, the Israelis who customised the LAHAT Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) for firing from the 120 mm main gun of the Mark II variant, has gone back to the drawing boards for correcting the error.

The DRDO source said, ‘This has delayed the induction of the tank a bit, but then we are telling the army that since the platform, the tank, is ready they can take it up, with the missile getting mated later.’

The tank itself has undergone about 89 major and minor ‘improvements,’ and still have a few unsolved issues which are decidedly ‘minor’ like changing the position of a light bulb or so.

The range of the LAHAT missile pay-load is about three-and-a-half kilometres on the plains and about two-and-a-half kilometres in the deserts.

Read the full story at ArmyRecognition