What : Main Battle Tank

What is in news : The Ministry of Defence (MoD) Thursday said it has placed an order worth over Rs 7,500 crore to Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF), Chennai for supply of 118 units of Main Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun’s Mark-1A variant for the Indian Army.

About:

• Started by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
• Primarily to augment the predominantly Russian-made armoured fleet.
• Trials of the earliest variant began in early 1990s and the tank was inducted in 2004. The work on its new variant Arjun Mark 1A began in June 2010 and the tank was fielded for trials by the Indian Army in June 2012.
• For the next three years, extensive trial evaluations were conducted both by the DRDO and the Army.

What is new :

• The Mark-1 variant adds 72 new features, which include 14 major additions and 58 minor ones, to the earlier Arjun Mark-1 variant.
• These additions have resulted in better all-terrain mobility and maneuverability in different modes of operation, better target acquisition and precision firing, both during the day and night with a 360 degree view, and a multi-layered robust protective armour named “Kanchan’ that can withstand adversary fire.
• The new additions along with its robust 120 mm rifled gun justify its categorisation as the ‘hunter killer.’