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Army chief admits 'Arjun' has 'certain minor flaws'

Army chief General Ved Prakash Malik admitted today that Arjun, the indigenous main battle tank, had 'certain minor flaws'.

''They have to be overcome. We do not want to give a system which would have any problems,'' he said.

General Malik was speaking to the media at the National Defence Academy near Pune. He did not specify the nature of the flaws, only saying. ''We are working with the Defence Research Development Organisation and will overcome the problems before Arjun's induction.''

Denying that its induction into the army was being delayed, he said some tests and improvements were being carried out on the MBT.

The army chief disclosed that Nag, the third generation indigenously developed anti-tank missile, is in an advanced stage of development.

The heat-seeking anti-tank guided missile, one of the five systems under the Integrated Guided Missile Programme being developed under the watchful eyes of the defence minister's scientific adviser A P J Abdul Kalam, would undergo user trial before induction, the general added.

Though the deficiency of officers has not been increasing, the army has to make up for the already existing shortfall of officers, he said.

UNI

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