Army to banish Bofors bogey, adopt indigenous, US routes
With defence minister AK Antony pushing for greater indigenization in the defence production sector to avoid scams, the Army is now pinning its hopes on two "prototypes" of artillery guns developed by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to boost its long-range, high-volume firepower.
Even as the force eagerly awaits the "user-trials" of these 155mm/45-calibre field guns in June, it's also pushing for inking of the $647 million contract for acquisition of 145 M-777 ultra-light howitzers (ULH) from the US by April-May to "exorcise" its recurring Bofors ghost.
The series of scandals in the artillery arena — beginning with the Swedish Bofors one in the mid-1980s and followed by South African Denel, Israeli Soltam and Singapore Technology Kinetic's (STK) in later years — has left the Army grappling with huge operational gaps since not even a single new 155mm howitzer has been inducted for the past 27 years.
Interestingly, both the new projects on the horizon — part of the long-delayed over Rs 30,000 crore artillery modernization plan — have a strong "Bofors angle". While the ULH deal will be a direct government-to-government contract, which is said to preclude kickbacks, the 155mm/39-calibre M-777s are manufactured by BAE Systems, which now owns the original Bofors company.
The two OFB prototypes are also based on the designs obtained under the transfer of technology (ToT) provisions in the infamous Rs 1,437-crore Bofors contract for 410 155mm howitzers in 1986.
MoD sources said the "letter of acceptance" for the ULH deal should be ready by March-end or so. The air-mobile howitzers, capable of being swiftly deployed in forward areas by helicopters and aircraft, are primarily meant for the high-altitude areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh to counter China.
"An Indian `maintainability evaluation team' visited the US from February 8 to 25 to inspect the howitzers. The guns will be delivered to India within a year of the deal being closed," said a source.
On the other front, the OFB prototypes were "satisfactorily tested" in Pokhran on February 4. The Army wants to induct 414 of these field guns, which have a range of 38-km as compared to the 30-km of the original Bofors gun, in the first stage.
"The prototypes, one with 68% indigenous parts and the other with 46%, will undergo validation firing in March-April before the final user trials in June," said the source.
The other 155mm/52-calibre artillery projects include purchase of 100 self-propelled tracked guns from a foreign vendor and the development of 814 mounted gun systems through a joint venture with the private sector.
But the biggest one is the over Rs 12,000-crore project to buy 400 155mm/52-calibre towed artillery guns, followed by indigenous manufacture of another 1,180 such guns after transfer of technology from the foreign vendor. This project has been derailed at least a couple of times in the past, the last time after STK was blacklisted due to the corruption scandal against former OFB chairman Sudipto Ghosh.
Army to banish Bofors bogey, adopt indigenous, US routes | idrw.org
