India
Along with these two howitzers, the Army is also looking to induct more than 300 Dhanush gun systems which have been developed indigenously by the Ordnance Factory Board
New Delhi: Thirty years after the Bofors controversy, the Narendra Modi government would be inducting two new types of howitzers into the Army. The force is ready to take delivery of the K9 Vajra self-propelled howitzers along with the American M-777 ultra-light howitzers.
Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Army chief General Bipin Rawat would be at the artillery school in Nashik, Maharashtra on November 9 to induct the K9-Vajra and M-777 guns, which would end the force's long wait.
India has signed a deal with the US for acquiring 145 M-777 howitzers and with a South Korean firm and Indian firm Larsen and Toubro for 100 K-9 Vajras for equipping the Army along the borders of both Pakistan and China.
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Along with these two howitzers, the Army is also looking to induct more than 300 Dhanush gun systems which have been developed indigenously by the Ordnance Factory Board.
In the past few years, a number of companies have come up with new projects to indigenously manufacture artillery guns. These companies include Tata Advanced Systems and Bharat Forge who have developed the Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS), which can hit targets up to 50 km, and the Modi government has given the approval for buying 150 of them initially.
The orders may go up by a large number as the Army needs around 400-500 such systems for taking care of both the Pakistan and China borders.
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