With the delivery of 16 Arjun tanks, the Army was equipped with the first armoured regiment of the indigenously built Main Battle Tanks (MBTs), the development of which took 35 years. Arjun tanks have good mobility and firepower, specially suited for the Indian desert. Of the total of 124 Arjun tanks to be delivered to the Army by March next year, Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has with this latest batch already handed over 45 MBTs in three phases. The tanks, with advance technology and capacity to fire in the range of 3-4 km, have been built at DRDO’s Avadi-based Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment. The six-speed MBT is fitted with a 1,400 HP engine and can notch up to 70km/hour of speed and climb on a surface with 30 degree gradient. The manufacture of 124 armoured vehicles is expected to cost Rs 1,760 crore. The Arjun regiment will be subjected to a conversion training and field practice for a period of three months before a comparative trial with T-90 tanks, sometime in October 2009, to assess the operational deployment role. Initially, 12 prototypes were developed during 1983 to 1990 and they were subjected to field trials of more than 20,000 km. Based on user feedback, 15 pre-production vehicles were developed between 1990 and 1995 and they were subjected to field trials of more than 70,000 km and 8,000 rounds.
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