Saraswat asks military to be realistic

BANGALORE: Scientific Advisor to the defence minister, VK Saraswat asked the country's military to come up with “realistic requirements”, specifically mentioning the Arjun Main Battle Tank and the Nag Anti-tank missile--programmes that had for long been considered white elephants before being finally inducted.

Speaking at the Defence Research Development Organisation annual awards held on Friday in New Delhi– an event which was also attended by defence minister AK Antony and members of the armed forces- Dr Saraswat said that while the the country’s services were its integral partners as well as clients, there was an urgent need to have a greater connect. ‘But while we welcome all inputs and guidelines, we also feel the need for the Services to firm up realistic requirements at the earliest, so we may properly plan our project requirements,” he said.

In development for over 30 years and at a cost of over Rs 300 crores, the Arjun Main Battle Tank programme had come under severe flak for cost overruns and its failure to meet the Indian Army’s combat requirements, leading to speculations that it could never be the mainstay of the Indian Army’s Armoured Corps. However, since comprehensively outgunning and outrunning the Russian-made T-90 - India’s current flagship battle tank - last year, the Arjun received a second order of 124 tanks in May.

“As you are aware the Arjun programme, spanning two decades, has been the most exhaustively evaluated project, which must be some sort of landmark in defence system development,” Dr Saraswat said. “With a development phase of 10 years and an equal evaluation-cum-improvement phase of 10 years, MBT Arjun has literally been through an “Agni Pariksha” by the services,” he further added.

Saraswat’s comments have come less than a year after the DRDO has started work on the next-generation Future Main Battle Tank. The Army has projected a need for about 1,200 FMBTs and has indicated in no uncertain terms that it expects the tank to go into production by 2020. The project is seen as crucial for the country’s future battle readiness.