Ready To Fire

The Indian Army finally has induction of new artillery pieces in its sight.

- C Santhosh

As the Indian Army prepares to induct new generation artillery pieces in its inventory next year, it will have been more than 32 years since March 24, 1986, when the Government of India awarded the erstwhile Bofors company of Sweden a contract for procurement of FH 77B 155mm towed howitzers. The order value at the time for 410 guns was worth approximately USD 1.3 billion and the Swedish firm had overcome competition from the French SOFMA TR 155mm gun to bag this major order. Bofors, however, will live on in the Indian Army as almost a quarter century after the deal was announced, the Ordinance Factory Board (OFB) began  work in 2011 to develop an electronically upgraded 155mm/45 Calibre Gun System ‘Dhanush’ based on the Transfer of Technology (ToT) obtained in 1986 from Bofors while procuring 155 mm/39 Calibre guns.

Besides, there will be the induction of the Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Hanwa Techwin of South Korea product, K9 Vajra-T 155mm/52 calibre Tracked Self Propelled Guns (100 units), and BAE Systems 145 M777A2 LW155(155mm/39 calibre)Ultra-Light Howitzers (ULH) of which 145 will be acquired. L&T is to deliver the first K9 VAJRA-T to the army, later this month and the first regiment (18 guns) is slated to be operational before the end of next year.