New Delhi,5 May (Lok Sabha):In its meeting held on 26.3.1974 the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs approved project for design and development of Main Battle Tank with an outlay of Rs. 15.50 crores. The same was enhanced to Rs.305.60 crores due to changes in the General Staff Qualitative Requirements and cost escalations caused by inflation.There has been some delay in issue of tanks to Army due to design modifications and removal of defects noticed during various trials by Army. The manufacture of Arjun tank is being regularly monitored through Working Group headed by Director General Mechanised Forces and Steering Committee under the co-chairmanship of Secretary (Defence Production) and Scientific Advisor to Raksha Mantri.Following defects have been noticed during the ongoing Accelerated User Cum Reliability Trials by Army:-
Failure of power packs
Low accuracy and consistency
Failure of Hydropneumatic Suspension Units
Shearing of Top Rollers
Chipping of Gun Barrels
The rectification of defects and performance of tanks are being closely monitored.
This information was given by Minister of State Defence Production Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply to Shri Prabhunath Singh in Lok Sabha today.