The Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) in the city has embarked on an ambitious mission to develop “stealth” battle tanks.
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and CVRDE have planned to develop futuristic battle tanks with a lot of modifications, P. Sivakumar, director, CVRDE, told Deccan Chronicle after Sathyabama University conferred an honorary doctorate on him on Thursday.
“We have two varieties of futuristic battle tanks — soft kill, which will protect the tank with camouflage and hard kill, which will not only protect our tank” but also fire at enemy tanks, he said.
DRDO had asked the city-based defence lab to develop Arjun Mark 2 on the successful performance of Arjun Mark 1 battle tank, Sivakumar said, adding that CVRDE scientists had identified 89 improvements in the Arjun Mark 1 tank.
“The Arjun Mark 2 tank will move to Pokhran in Rajasthan on May 10 for firing after which the Army will start its trial on June 1,” he said.
Later in his convocation address, Sivakumar said that DRDO had planned massive programmes in robotics and unmanned aerial vehicles for various applications.
“Nano-technology and bio-technology will change the face of future war fighting. It will eventually make tanks, aircrafts, ships and spacecrafts further lighter and stronger,” he said.