a project which was proving to be very delayed and costly, it was good that it was shelved. Anyway, i hope it has atleast helped in developing spin offs like Tank-X (T-72 chassis with arjun turret) and Bhim (Arjun chassis with south african dennel guns). I hope these spin offs will help at some point. Moreover, DRDO has to show more accountability as far as money goes.
and I dont see war happening between pakistan and india. but certainly with some one else i guess
Arjun tank’s production is on. This is an interview by Defence Secretary, Mr. Rao Inderjit Singh dated, June 2006 :
The Main Battle Tank Arjun is under production. Order for 124 numbers is under execution by OFB. There have been some problems with the production model of the tank which have been rectified and tested during the recently concluded field trials in June 2006.
In May this year, 29 wagons for Arjun were handed over to the army. So of-course Arjun tanks are also being inducted. The Indian Army Chief, Gen. JJ Singh said that 5 Arjun tanks will be inducted into the army in the coming months.
The original article in this threadis dated from October 7th, making it much more recent than the older articles from earlier in the year that you posted.
mad_Scientist, actually that news is from Strategypage. If the Arjun tank would really have been cancelled, the Indian media would have crucified Arjun in next day’s editorials.
A few days back, the entire spectrum of Indian media declared Trishul to be dead and abandoned, so much so that the Defence Minister had to clarify the next day, that Trishul project is fully on.
Anyway, the following news is from Oct. 13 :
Full scale production of Arjun to begin soon: Rao
New Delhi, Oct. 13 (PTI)
The government today said that full scale production of the country’s indigenous main battle tank Arjun would soon start. “We are on the verge of starting full scale production of the tank (Arjun),” Minister of state for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh told reporters here.
Singh said that after a recent comprehensive meeting between officials of the Army, Director General Qualitative anaylsis, department of defence production and Ordinance Factories Board had given a go ahead to the full scale production of the tank.
The article goes on to mention comparitive trials to be held with T-90 and T-72. I guess the June trials must have been trials to test only Arjun’s parameters in extreme conditions.
