The Army on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for developing next-generation indigenous battle tanks after a successful run of the original model Arjun.

Based on its experience in designing Arjun Main Battle Tanks, the DRDO was coming up with a lighter and more versatile version called called Arjun MK-II, which is expected to meet future needs, Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor told an international seminar on Armoured Fighting Vehicles.

Defence scientists are also working on the Tank X project comprising features of Arjun and Russian-supplied T-72 tanks.

The function organised by the CII was presided over by Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh, who asked Indian companies to invest and participate more in production of weapons systems.

After years of trials, the army recently agreed to induct the first series of Arjun MBTs and the government has okayed commercial production of 125 tanks at Avadi Heavy Weapons Factory near Chennai.

Arjun is still to conduct comparative trials with Russian T-90s and T-72s. Though these were scheduled for September and October, they have been postponed twice.