The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Thrust on scaling up indigenous content of military arsenal

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009
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Thrust on scaling up indigenous content of military arsenal

M.Dinesh Varma

Final complement of 16 Arjun Main Battle Tanks flagged off

— Photo: V. Ganesan

ROLLING OUT: MBT Arjun tanks for the Army at the Heavy Vehicles Factory, Avadi, on Monday.

CHENNAI: The Defence department’s thrust on scaling up indigenous content of its military arsenal will lessen the country’s dependence on import of critical components in the next few years, A.Sivathanu Pillai, Chief Controller Research and Development, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), said on Monday.

Interacting with reporters after flagging off the final complement of 16 Arjun Main Battle Tanks to the Army’s 43rd regiment at the Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi, Dr.Pillai said the Army, Navy and Air Force had already ushered in a great degree of indigenisation in weaponry.

“The DRDO is looking to raise the ratio of indigenous content in military equipment from the current level of 30 per cent to about 70 per cent in the next seven years or so,” Dr.Pillai told The Hindu.

Already, the DRDO had led the indigenisation drive under the Component Design Execution (CODE) programme across various weaponry systems such as vessels for the Navy, light and medium combat aircraft for the Air Force, missiles, sensors and state-of-the-art radars.

Capacity exists

Dr.Pillai said the roughly 200 public and private production units engaged in manufacture of defence equipment had the scalable capacity to meet the requirements as and when Army indent volumes increased in future.

He pointed out that even for the fully indigenous MBT Arjun mission, the DRDO had collaborated with a host of agencies led by the Combat Vehicles Engineering Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE).

Dr.Pillai underlined the fact that self reliance in design and development of military weaponry through synergy among various agencies was a shared goal of the entire nation. “However, complete self reliance is impossible for any country to achieve.”

The HVF at Avadi, which was tasked with manufacturing 124 MBT Arjun units for the Army, has so far handed over 45 tanks. “The fine-tuning of the tanks will continue and the remaining units are scheduled to be ready for commissioning in early 2010,” Dr.Pillai said.

D.Bhardwaj, Director General Mechanised Forces, said the jointeffort and the will to succeed against odds displayed by various agencies in putting out MBT Arjun proved to the world that India was a force to reckon with when it came to weapon design capabilities.

The Army, which was proud to possess the tank, was confident that MBT Arjun would rank among the best tanks in the world, he said.

Awesome features

CVRDE Director S.Sundaresh said MBT Arjun’s core strengths of excellent mobility, superior firepower and protection features made it comparable with the best armoured machines in the world. The design engineering feats achieved by the MBT Arjun team at Avadi includes developing the Kanchan Armour, hydro-pneumatic suspension, armament system, integrated fire detection and suppression system and system integration of complex weapon platforms.

Earlier, the fanfare that marked the rollout of the tanks befitted the over three-decades-old Arjun saga that has been characterised by design hiccups, technology denial and re-engineering and retrofitment of the tank’s medium fording capabilities.

As an MBT Arjun tank decked with garlands, ribbon strips and balloons led out a formidable-looking line-up of tanks, the collective roar of the 1,400 HP engines almost drowned the cries of “Bharath Mata ki Jai.”

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