Army Monday placed a new order for extra 124 'Arjun main battle tanks, providing a much wanted boost to the more than three decades long DRDO agenda.
This is in adding up to the 124 Arjun tanks which were developed by India's premier Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has received a contract, "said Defence spokesman Sitanshu Kar.
"The army has determined to place a new order for a 124 Arjun. This is in addition to the existing order of 124 tanks," Kar said.
Fifty of the 124 beforehand ordered the tanks were handed over to the Indian army last year and has been formed into a division.
The unmarked order comes nearly two months after the successful trials of the desert Arjun made by the army in the Mahajan Ranges, near Bikaner in Rajasthan. The Arjun out T-1990 in all the crucial stricture in the experiments.
"After many years of trial and misfortune, it has now proven its worth by its excellent performance under different conditions, running cross-country over rugged sand dunes, discover, observe and quickly engaging targets and accurately to hit targets - both motionless and moving , with pin-point accuracy, "Kar said.
The all-weather car weapons is based on accurate and rapid target gaining capability during day and night, and in the shortest possible response time in combat actions, "he added.
The 60-ton tank is designed for heavy vehicle Factory (HVF) at Avadi near Chennai, which has the capacity to produce 50 Arjun annually.
The Arjun project was in its first days been overwhelmed with problems due to defects in design, such as those associated to weight, size, night vision capability and fire control system. These deficiencies were correct one by one during the year.
The fresh orders for the manufacture of the Arjun would actually mean a new life to the project, which has suffered due to time and budget overruns.
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