Fully indigenous T-90 tanks to be manufactured from August'09

Nagpur, Feb 26 (UNI) The manufacture of fully indigenous T-90 tanks will begin in the country from August 2009 as part of thrust on indigenisation of defence production to reduce dependence on imported products.

Speaking to reporters here today, Director General, Ordnance Factories (DGOF) and Chairman, Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) Sudipta Ghosh said the tanks would be manufactured at the Ordnance Factory at Avadi, near Chennai.

As part of the exercise, the manufacture of the AK-630 naval guns and rocket launcher Mark III had already started, Mr Ghosh said.

OFB had completed its testing of the 'Kalantak' micro assault rifle and would be submitting it to the defence forces for trials soon, he said.

The OFB's own trials of 'Kalantak,' which was a state-of-the-art rifle having auto-loading with gas that took care of the recoil to make it more balanced and accurate, had been 'satisfactory,' Mr Ghosh said adding: ''We have also patented the rifle, which weighs less and has a laser sight.'' ''We have developed an X-calibre 5.56 mm carbine that has single and auto modes of firing, particularly for exports. The earlier version had single and 3-round modes, but no auto mode. We have received orders for the same from the Ministry of Home Affairs as well as from Swaziland. The rifle is undergoing trials by the army right now,'' he said.

Mr Ghosh said the Ordnance Factory at Ambazari, near here, was the only one in the entire country to manufacture special aluminium alloys, which are 'airworthy' and are, therefore, used by space research organisations and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

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