Will Likely Incorporate INDIGIS for Autonomous Travel
India is planning to develop a tracked combat UGV (referred to as a UGCV) based on the Mk 1A Arjun tank, the government’s Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which designed the MBT, said in the April issue of its Technology Focus publication.
Such a platform could play a “decisive role in the front line,” as unmanned systems are increasingly deployed to generate advantage on the battlefield, the organisation stated, adding “The objective of the proposed project is the design, development and field validation of an UGCV [based] on the MBT Arjun Mk 1A, with the 120mm main gun as the primary weapon.” It could be deployed on long-range operations in the desert terrain of Rajasthan, for example.
Developmental challenges include route planning over long distances, far beyond the perceptual range of onboard sensors, or providing user interfaces at remote control stations to deliver contextual information to the operator, DRDO noted. To overcome such challenges, the UGCV would be equipped with the recently-developed ‘Indigenous Geographic Information System’ (INDIGIS), which offers a visual terrain and vehicle location perspective. It could also be used to generate a feasible route for the vehicle to follow to reach an operator-defined target location.
The Mk 1A is an upgraded variant of the Arjun Mk 1 MBT in Indian Army service. According to the MoD, this version features 72 improvements over the Mk 1 to ensure “effortless mobility in all terrains, precise day-and-night target engagement,” as well as better protection and superior firepower.
In September 2021, New Delhi awarded the Heavy Vehicles Factory an INR75.23 billion ($987.7 million) contract to produce 118 Arjun Mk 1As. The new tanks are expected to supplement some 124 Mk 1s that entered service from 2004.
