Arjun Main Battle Tank: Made in India MK-1A History, Specifications, Year of Development, DRDO and Achievements
Arjun Main Battle Tank MK-1A: Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has introduced the original Arjun Main Battle tank MK-1 to the Indian Army at an official ceremony in Chennai. The new Arjun Main Battle Tank MK-1A is 118 units of Main Battle Tank which have been natively designed, developed and manufactured by DRDO and CVRDE collectively. This project to manufacture Arjun Main Battle Tank was initially commenced by DRDO in 1972 with Combat Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) as its primary laboratory. The main objective behind manufacturing the Arjun Main Battle Tank was to design such a tank that features high mobility, superior fire power and an excellent protector.
In 1996, mass production of Arjun Battle Tank began at the Indian Ordnance Factory at the Avadi facility.
The Specifications of Arjun Battle Tank MK-1A:
Dimensions:
- Overall length (with gun forward): 10.638 m
- Overall height (with gun rear): 9.546 m
- Overall height (with AD gun mount): 3.03 m (Turret roof - 2.32 m)
- Overall width: 3.864 m
- Combat weight: 58.5 tons
Technical Details:
- Max Speed: 70 km/hr
- Max speed on cross country: 40 km/hr
- Ground pressure: 0.84 kg/sq.cm
- Engine power: 1400 HP at 2400 rpm
- Engine Characteristics: V 90̊ Turbocharged diesel, 10 cylinder water-cooled
- Power-to-weight ratio: 24:1 HP/ton
- Gearbox: 4 forward = 2 reverse gears Epicyclic gear train, Torque converter, Mechanical lockup clutch & hydrodynamic retarder
Some special features of Arjun Main Battle Tank MK-1A:
- Some major features of the Arjun tanks are Fin Stabilised Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot (FSAPDS) ammunition and 120 mm calibre rifled gun.
- The tank also features a computer-controlled integrated fire control system with stabilised sighting capable to function in all lighting conditions.
- The secondary weapons of the Arjun Main Battle Tank MK-1A include a coaxial 7.2 mm machine gun for anti-personnel targets and a 12.7 mm machine gun for anti-aircraft and ground targets.
- Since the Arjun Main Battle Tanks is equipped to make the most potent tank in India, it is named the Hunter Killer.
Accomplishments of the Arjun Main Battle Tank MK-1A:
- In the course of an exercise that took place in 2010 during a desert trial conducted by the Army, the Arjun Main Battle Tank surpassed the Russian T-90s.
- The Arjun Main Battle Tank has introduced India as one of the countries in the league of 10 nations worldwide to design and develop an MBT of their own. The list of such nations already includes the UK, USA, France, Germany, Israel, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia.
The Arjun Battle Mk-1A is said to have some 14 major upgrades as compared to its previous versions. The tank will also be introduced with a feature of missile-firing post its final tests.
In 2004, the Indian Army received the first batch of these tanks and 16 of such tanks were accepted at that time. Those Arjun Battle Tanks were inducted as a squadron of the 43 Armoured Regiment. However, the first-ever Arjun Regiment of 45 tanks was inducted into the army in 2009, and over 100 more tanks were delivered in 2011. The Indian Army ordered 124 Arjun Tanks in the year 2010.
