Funds for Development of Brahmos Missile, Arjun MBT

Indian Ministry of Defence, The Joint Venture BrahMos was established through Inter-Government Agreement in February, 1998 for design, development, production and marketing of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile with share capital of $250 million, contributed by India and Russia in the ratio of 50.5% and 49.5%, respectively. 
 
The share capital was enhanced by $50 million to include the development of aircraft version of the missile. Therefore, the contribution from the Indian side was Rs. 634 crores. 
 
DRDO also contributed Rs. 370 crores to realize the required infrastructure, technologies, production facilities and systems for Indian Armed Forces. 
 
Performance improvement of the missile system is an on-going process and suitable actions have been initiated. 
 
This information was given by the Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in a written reply to Shri Jai Parkash Aggarwal in Rajya Sabha today.  
 
Manufacture of the MBT Arjun 
 
The production of Main Battle Tank Arjun has commenced at Heavy Vehicle Factory (HVF), Avadi, Chennai. The Army has placed an indent for manufacture of 124 tanks at a cost of Rs. 1760 crore. As on 31st March 2007, HVF has made an expenditure of Rs. 1270.82 crore against this indent. 
 
An indent for manufacture of 124 Tanks has been placed on Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) in March 2000. Five tanks have already been handed over to Army in 2005 and nine more tanks are ready for delivery. The remaining quantity is expected to be delivered by 2009. 
 
All issues related to production of MBT Arjun have been resolved and the production is getting stabilized. At present there is no proposal to take cooperation of private sector as a joint venture. 
 
However, private sector is involved in the project as supplier of various components/assemblies. 
 
Presently, Army is using tanks imported from various countries. 
 
This information was given by the Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in a written reply to Shri Lalit Kishore Chaturvedi in Rajya Sabha today.