Why in News?

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi handed over the indigenous main battle tank Arjun Mk-1A to the Army in a function at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.

Features of Arjun tank

• The Arjun tanks stand out for their ‘Fin Stabilised Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot (FSAPDS)’ ammunition and 120-mm calibre rifled gun.
• It also has a computer-controlled integrated fire control system with stabilised sighting that works in all lighting conditions.
• The secondary weapons include a co-axial 7.62-mm machine gun for anti-personnel and a 12.7-mm machine gun for anti-aircraft and ground targets.

How is the Mk-1A different?

• The Mk-1A version has 14 major upgrades on the earlier version.
• Accurate and fast target acquisition capability during day and night and in all types of weather.
• Shortest possible reaction time during combat engagements.
• Ability to accurately engage targets on move.
• Capability to destroy all possible enemy armour at maximum battle ranges.
• It is also supposed to have missile firing capability as per the design, but this feature will be added later as final testing of the capability is still on.
• However, the biggest achievement with the latest version is 54.3 percent indeginous content against the 41 per cent in the earlier model.

Reference:

1.  https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/prime-minister-hands-over-indigenous-arjun-tank-to-army/article33834519.ece