The rear-side faces of the turret are fitted with up to 12 smoke grenade dischargers. These containers keep the ammunition away from the crew, providing an additional level of survivability. The tank has special containers to carry 39 projectiles of 120mm ammunition. An anti-helicopter round is also being developed to combat air threat to armour. The Arjun MBT is equipped with an indigenously developed 120mm main rifled gun with fin stabilised armour-piercing discarding sabot (FSAPDS) and high-explosive squash head (HESH) ammunition.Īn anti-personnel 7.62mm coaxial machine gun is fitted alongside the main gun and a 12.7mm machine gun is fitted at the top of the turret to aim aircraft and ground targets. Hence, the Arjun closely resembles Leopard 2A4 tank.īetween 25% and 30% of the tank components, including engine, transmission, gun barrel, tracks and fire control system, are imported. German Leopard 2 tank developer Krauss Maffei provided the design assistance. The tank heavily depends on foreign technology and equipment. The development of Arjun MBT began in March 1974. The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) is expected to order 118 Mk1A battle tanks at an estimated cost of Rs66bn ($888.7m). The Indian Army subsequently ordered another 124 advanced tanks in May 2010, this time MkII. In March and April 2010, comparative trials on manoeuvrability of the Arjun MBT and the Russian T-90 tank in Rajasthan deserts resulted in a better performance from the Arjun tank. The first batch of five tanks was delivered in August 2004 and a total of 45 had been delivered by May 2009. The Indian Army placed initial orders for 124 tanks in March 2000. Arjun main battle tank orders and deliveries The tank is seen as a potential replacement for the Army’s ageing Russian T-72 fleet of 2,400 tanks.īEL unveiled a new weapon control system for the 12.7mm gun of the Arjun MkII tank, at Aero India 2017 Air Show held in February 2017. It is being developed by DRDO with a total of 93 upgrades, as per the requirements of the army. The Arjun MkII variant is a light-weight futuristic main battle tank (FMBT) with electro-optical sensors and high-power lasers.
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