Main battle tank Arjun will see a dip in import content, and possibly some changes to increase operational capabilities, as production increases, outgoing DRDO Secretary Dr V.K. Atre said. ‘‘Currently, Arjun tanks have 50 per cent import content. We would like to finish manufacturing 124 tanks by 2007, and import content should go down as production progresses,’’ Atre said. The tanks, five of which were inducted recently, were under the scanner by the Army for being too wide and heavy to be transported. He added that plans were at final stage to mount a South African gun turret on the Arjun chassis to produce mounted 15 mm Howitzers and were awaiting Government clearance.The DRDO has begun training Army missile personnel on launch techniques of Agni-I short-range missile and Agni-II intermediate-range missile, to be deployed soon. The third flight-test of Agni-II on August 29 was a training test with Army personnel.On the long-range Agni-III missile, Atre said: ‘‘There are not many issues with Agni-III, and there are certainly no problems with the guidance system of any of the Agni missiles. The technology for longer range missiles already exists in India. It is just a matter of putting it together for Agni-III.’’He also said that technical snags afflicting the surface-to-air missile Aakash and anti-tank missile Nag had been fixed and that user trials of both were expected soon.Recently, the Army raised the third missile group 334 for induction of Agni-I. It has already raised two missile groups — 333 and 355 — for the 150-350 km range Prithvi missiles.DRDO is looking at obtaining initial operational clearance (IOC) for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) by 2007 and induction into the IAF by the end of the decade. Atre added that DRDO was also developing a 3D radar.
