Article Posted on : - Mar 28, 2010

India's Arjun MBT (left) and Russian T-90 tank. A File Photo.

NEW DELHI (PTI): The indigenously-built Arjun tanks have performed better than the Russian origin T-90 'Bhishma' in the comparative trials to determine the future main battle tank of the Indian Army.

The final results of the comparative trials between the two tanks in the Thar desert are expected to be finalised in around a week's time, where the Arjun performed well in all the three tasks that the two tanks had to accomplish, Defence Ministry officials said here.

For the trials, 14 Arjuna tanks faced an equal number of the T-90s and each squadron was given three tasks, including driving more than 150 km in the deserts, shooting at targets while moving and static mode and to drive through a water channel.

The outcome of the trials will determine the future of the Arjuns and their operational roles in the Army, which has placed orders for only 124 of them, the officials said.

The DRDO, on the other hand, wants the Army to place order for at least 500 tanks, so that it can work on developing the futuristic MBT for the Army.

Former minister of state for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh, had said the earlier trials of the Arjun were "rigged" to soot down the possibility of the DRDO getting more orders from the Army.

The Arjun project was approved in 1974 and was supposed to help replace its ageing fleet of T-55 and T-72 tanks but delays in the programme prompted the Army to go in for the Russian T-90s.

The Army has signed contracts worth over Rs 8,000 crores with Russia for supplying 647 T-90s and the Heavy vehicles factory in Avadi will also manufacture 1,000 of these machines under license from Russia, they said.