L&T in race for Rs 2,000 crore howitzer deal

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NEW DELHI: An Indian private company is for the first time in direct competition with a foreign vendor to supply 100 self-propelled howitzers to the Indian Army in a deal expected to be worth over Rs 2,000 crore.

Indian L&T and Russian Rosobornexport are in a straight contest to supply the 100 self-propelled tracked howitzers to the Army and the trials of the two guns are slated to begin in June-July time-frame this year, defence ministry sources said.

The guns are being procured by the Army as part of its more than Rs 20,000-crore artillery modernisation programme, which has been stuck after the bofors gun deal scandal, they said.

Not a single new artillery gun has been inducted ever since the infamous Bofors contract for 410 field howitzers became a political issue in 1986.

The gun being offered by the Indian firm is learnt to have been built and developed in collaboration with South Korean Samsung Techwin and is based on its "K9 Thunder" self- propelled howitzer.



Under the contract between the two firms, the Korean firm will provide key technologies to L&T for local production of the howitzer.

After the trial phase gets over by early next year following the winter evaluation of the guns, the Army will find out the lowest bidder and include the chosen guns in five regiments of its artillery units.

Under its artillery modernisation plan, the Army envisages induction of 2,814 guns of different types from both indigenous and foreign sources.

The force has plans of procuring more than 300 indigenous versions of the Bofors howitzers being produced by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and is also in the process of upgrading the 130 mm artillery guns to the 155mm 52 calibre standard.

It is also procuring around 145 ultra light howitzers to be deployed in mountainous borders with China and Pakistan from the US under a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) deal expected to be finalised soon between the two countries.

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News Source:L&T in race for Rs 2,000 crore howitzer tender - The Times of India

Info on K9 Series:K9 Thunder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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@Ray @Kunal Biswas,@ pmaitra and other defence professionals in here.
 
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Ray

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Great.

It should be tried out when offered.

The ToT shouls be a must.
 

Kunal Biswas

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155mm of 52cal MSTA
Vs


155mm of 52cal k9 thunder self-propelled howitzer
=========================
=========================

Msta has more probability of winning as its design over T-72 Chassis, Perhaps in Indian config it will be over Arjun`s, But K9 needs its own chassis.

@Kunal Biswas
which gun is being offered by Rosobornexport? is it the Msta howitzer?
 
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Bhadra

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Can our "Distinguished" scientists make copy of K10 Ammunition Resupply Vehicle (ARV0 say on T-72 chassis !!
 

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This time the Government needs to walk the talk. If they are serious about encouraging Domestic Defence production, then they must go in for L&T--- provided they qualify in the trials.

This will give a shot in the arm for the other players in the Private sector and we shall see serious money flow into R&D and as they say a million flowers will bloom.
 

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IMHO, we have two foreign guns on offer with tech, both are different, one is truck (Tata) other is track (L&T) then local OFB towed gun. We can use this position and get what is best from all and make either common parts gun for easy maintaince and ammo tech fom both foreign suppliers, eg both supplier has long range ammo.

Plus i think we have enough space to have 1000 guns from all the three makers. Plus about 500 light weight guns to be heli lifted for mountains from US govt sales route.
 

The Last Stand

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Msta has more probability of winning as its design over T-72 Chassis, Perhaps in Indian config it will be over Arjun`s, But K9 needs its own chassis.
Err The MSTA-S is 152.4 mm not 155. But there is export version of 2A65 howitzer. Also, MSTA was supposed to have been rejected a few years back (rumours) K9 performs better - ever so slightly
 

Kunal Biswas

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The one i posted ( Picture ) is 155mm of 52cal specially design for export ( India ) ..

MSTA is an very old design, It will lose all hand in front of ARZU Spgh with a new design turret, The reason MSTA have more chances of winning not coz of preform-ace but logistics with related to the chassis, IA is sensitive about logistics over preform-ace..

Err The MSTA-S is 152.4 mm not 155. But there is export version of 2A65 howitzer. Also, MSTA was supposed to have been rejected a few years back (rumours) K9 performs better - ever so slightly
 

The Last Stand

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The one i posted ( Picture ) is 155mm of 52cal specially design for export ( India ) ..

MSTA is an very old design, It will lose all hand in front of ARZU Spgh with a new design turret, The reason MSTA have more chances of winning not coz of preform-ace but logistics with related to the chassis, IA is sensitive about logistics over preform-ace..
The export version that wiki mentions? Thanks for updating my data.

Also, India seems to be slowly shifting towards NATO ammunition in everything, that's why I think K9 will win. I understand the IA's logistics concern. But MSTA-S 155 will still use T-80's 6TD engine which Ukraine might or might not provide.

Also, SPGH turrets (if they are even used) are heavy and move like the Maus's turret. i.e to say it will take almost a whole minute for a 360 degree rotation. Armies prefer to turn the whole vehicle around.
 

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There seems to be an error in this article. Why would L&T and the Russians join together to offer an South Korean self propelled howitzer when the Russians have their own self propelled howitzers to offer. Besides the K9 is also used by Pak's close ally Turkey. Hence it would not be a wise choice to buy it.
 

The Last Stand

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doesn't Msta-s come with twin barrel gun some pics on the net also posted by @Austin on BR by the name of Koalition-SV
Koalitsya-SV is a prototype and a variant of the MSTA-S of which we have already discussed.

MSTA-S comes with one extremely large pre-ordered 152.4 mm 2A65, or in our case an even larger more badass 155 mm NATO-standard gun.
 
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The Last Stand

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Allaudin;732004 Here's the link with the video looks bad ass IMHO......:- [url=http://www.military-today.com/artillery/koalitsija_sv.htm said:
Koalitsija-SV Prototype Self-Propelled Twin-Barrel Howitzer | Military-Today.com[/url]
The video is beautifully faulty. No artillery gun can fire at the rate of 30 rounds a minute. Koalitsya uses autoloader which is painfully slow and can load 6 or maybe 7 projectiles for each gun in a minute. Also ammunition runs out faster, guns cannot be independently aimed and recoil causes accuracy to be degraded, increasing chances of friendly fire.
 
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The Last Stand

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A more appropriate comparison should be between MSTA & ARZU Spgh >>>>
ARZU is definitely a competitor and will work out well. But range will not be as good as NATO guns since I seriously doubt India can produce Base Bleed rounds from thin air. If Russia helped, ARZU becomes the second best choice (Logistics wise) and best choice (General purpose - improves our knowledge on building artillery, and helps in logistics too - in embargo we will still produce spare parts.
 

Kunal Biswas

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They System Designation : 2S19M1 MSTA-S 155mm

That is not an issue, It can be fitted over Arjun chassis..

The export version that wiki mentions? Thanks for updating my data.

I understand the IA's logistics concern. But MSTA-S 155 will still use T-80's 6TD engine which Ukraine might or might not provide.
 

Kunal Biswas

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India produce BB rounds so does charges and all since last 10 years..

ARZU is a Slovakian product, Sloves are coming up with BEML, ARZU is a competitor against MSTA of Russian..

ARZU is definitely a competitor and will work out well. But range will not be as good as NATO guns since I seriously doubt India can produce Base Bleed rounds from thin air. If Russia helped, ARZU becomes the second best choice (Logistics wise) and best choice (General purpose - improves our knowledge on building artillery, and helps in logistics too - in embargo we will still produce spare parts.
 

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