Chennai, Aug 07, 2004

Exactly seven months after the historic roll-out of the first T-90S tank ''Bhishma'' from the Heavy Vehicles Factory (HVF) at suburban Avadi, the most prestigious masterpiece of the Indian Army -- the indigenously manufactured Main Battle Tank ''Arjun'' -- was on Saturday formally inducted into the Indian Army.

Designed, developed and produced by the Combat Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) at HVF, the state-of-the-art Arjun tank rolled out from the portals of the 43-year-old HVF when Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee handed over the first batch of five tanks to Chief of Army Staff General N.C. Vij at a ceremonial function here in the presence of Minister of State for Defence and Parliamentary Affairs B.K. Handique.

Conceived way back in 1983 by the Indian Army considering the future challenges ahead, Arjun initially faced some obstacles.

During the test trials conducted in Rajasthan in 1994, allegations that it lacked several important features also surfaced. Critics went to the extent of saying that it was not viable.

But once former Defence Minister George Fernandes announced in Parliament about the Army expressing its satisfaction over the performance after the DRDO brought in some changes following the army's suggestions, the stage was set for indigenous manufacture of this most advanced battle tank.

The Army in one go placed an order for 124 such tanks, signalling its mass production--a stiff target, which the scientists, engineers and technologists of the CVRDE and HVF achieved with aplomb.

They toiled day-in and day-out to design and develop this most advanced tank, with all round features. The HVF Engineers, under the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Kolkata, worked shoulder-to-shoulder with their counterparts in CVRDE to establish the manufacturing process and roll-out the tanks in record time.