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India Defence Online, New Delhi – With the success of the “Arjun” Main Battle Tank (MBT) for the Indian Army, the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is embarking on its project for the Future Main Battle Tank (FMBT).
Chief of DRDO V.K.Saraswat has confirmed that the FMBT will be developed by DRDO and it is confident of making it within eight years after the project gets sanctioned. Currently, the capabilities of the FMBT are being chalked out by the Indian Army and DRDO. As per the norms, detailed specifications of the FMBT will be listed in General Staff Qualitative Requirements (GSQR).
The FMBT is a next-generation tank and will weigh less than the “Arjun” MBT making it a highly tactile and mobile tank. The FMBT is being envisaged as a tank with an active armour which will shoot down enemy anti-tank projectiles before they strike. The FMBT will be highly mobile making it less susceptible to hits and attacks. The FMBT will have the capability to operate in a nuclear-contaminated battlefield without exposing the crew to radiation; and the networked flow of information to the FMBT will be possible providing full situational awareness to the crew when inside the tank. As for the armament, the FMBT will have all the “Arjun” MBT armament like the heavy 120mm ‘main gun’, and two small-calibre machine guns. The main gun in the latest batch of “Arjun” MBT also fires anti-tank missiles. All of these will be incorporated in the FMBT with, needless to say, advanced technology.
According to sources, the Heavy Vehicle Factory (HVF) in Avadi, which is a facility of the state-owned Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), will be where the DRDO intends to make the FMBT. Apparently, the HVF of OFB and DRDO will work in tandem from the primary design stage of the FMBT. Incidentally, the “Arjun” MBT is also being built at HVF in Avadi.
Indian defence news and strategic intelligence
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