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New Delhi: The army's invitation of proposals for buy tanks from international market is not in conflict with DRDO's program of making Arjun tanks, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar told parliament on Tuesday.
The army had recently floated a Request for Indent (RFI) for "Future Ready Combat Vehicles" (FRCV), while Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is working on a project to develop the next generation of Arjun tanks, a similar project.
Parrikar, in a written reply to Rajya Sabha, said the proposals invited by the army are "for a design competition to identify innovative design options which will form the base for a combat vehicle platform".
Arjun on display at Heavy Vehicles Factory - AVADI
He also said that there are plans to subsequently develop other need-based variants on this platform, if found suitable.
"These platforms (FRCVs) are to meet the futuristic requirements of the services beyond 2027 and are not in conflict with the current MBT Arjun Programme and its future orders," he clarified.
The minister also said that the DRDO has "successfully completed" project for development of Main Battle Tank (MBT) Arjun in March 1995, with delivery of 12 prototypes and 15 pre-production series (PPS) tanks. Giving further details, the minister said initial sanctioned cost of the Arjun tanks project was Rs.15.50 crore in 1974, which was revised to Rs.56.55 crore in 1980.
A realistic estimate could be done in 1987 at Rs.280.80 crore and accordingly DRDO obtained a sanction based on firmed up General Staff Qualitative Requirement (GSQR-467) and revised scope of the project.
Finally, the project was completed in March 1995 at a total revised cost of Rs.305.60 Crore.
He also said that two regiments of MBT Arjun Mk-I have been raised and operationalized.
"Out of total indented quantity of 124 numbers, 122 MBT Arjun Mk-I have been produced and inducted into army," he said.
"Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for quantity 118 for MBT Arjun Mk-II is in place," the minister added.
Since 2010, India has exported Rs 2600 crore defence items:
HMS-X2 console and the cyclindrical transducer array that will be fitted inside a vessel's sonar dome. The HMS-X2 console has been exported to friendly countries
India has exported defence items worth over Rs 2,600 crore since 2010, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said today.
In a written reply to a question on the export of defence items by India in Rajya Sabha, he said, defence exports by Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and private sector companies (based on NOCs) totalled Rs 290.51 crore in 2010-11.
In 2011-12, it was Rs 512.48 crore which dropped to Rs 446.75 crore in 2012-13, Parrikar said.
In 2013-14, the value of defence exports totalled 686.27 crore, which again dropped to Rs 669.88 crore in 2014-15.
Parikkar, while giving statistics, also said that percentage of 'Procurement from Indigenous sources' out of total procurement in the same period stood between 59.01 per cent to 80.34 per cent.
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