The Modi government picked up the ropes from where the previous government left off on the artillery modernisation programme that is now already over a decade-and-a-half-old and has pushed ahead with guns' contracts with the best in the industry. These procurements are likely to change the way Indian artillery formations fight their wars in the future, reports GEOPOLITICS Bureau.
India's infrastructure and engineering giant Larsen & Toubro has tiedup with South Korea's Hanwha Techwin to carry out delivery of 100 K9 Thunder self-propelled howit zers to the Indian Army. Though the contract with the Army was yet to be inked by L&T, which was the prime bidder for this tender on April 21, it, however, went ahead and signed a deal with Hanwha to execute this likely contract.
The confidence of L&T comes from the fact that the Cabinet Committee on Security, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had approved the inking of the Army contract with the Indian private sector firm in the second week of April. It also stemmed from the 10 years of cooperation between L&T and Hanwha in customising the K9 Thunder into K9 Vajra-T, suitable for the Indian conditions and meeting Indian Army requirements.
The deal, as and when it gets signed, will be worth ₹4,500 crore, said L&T Head of Defence and Aerospace Jayant D. Patil. The K9 procurement programme is expected to give a major boost to the Indian Army, which is in dire need of battlefield guns. It is indeed a record of sorts for the Indian ministry of defence that within a matter of five months, it has been able to conclude two artillery guns deals for the Indian Army.
The November 2016 deal was for 145 M777 ultra-light howitzers from the BAE Systems, to arm the newly raised Mountain Strike Corps, headquartered at Panagarh in West Bengal but having an offensive capability and focus on China's non-demarcated Line of Actual Control with India. Under a programme for modernisation of the Indian Army's artillery regiments, India is to procure three more types of guns, including a wheeled selfpropelled gun.
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