Indian Army to acquire k9 Vajra howitzer

[LETHALFORCE]

Indian Army likely to get K9 Vajra-T howitzersby Ryan MaassWashington (UPI) Jan 11, 2016

The Indian Army is likely to acquire the K9 Vajra-T howitzer, a Larsen & Toubro modification of Samsung Techwin's K-9 Thunder.

Ministry sources told The Indian Express the procurement has moved into a price negotiation phase, which will commence this month and likely be concluded later in the fiscal year.

The K9 Vajra-T, a 155mm/52-caliber self-propelled artillery weapon, completed its evaluation by the Indian defense ministry in September 2015. The Larsen-Samsung team's entry beat the 2S19 MSTA howitzer put forward by Russia's Rosoboronexport.

The deal will reportedly include 100 guns, at the estimated cost of between $706.5 to $785 million. The Indian Defense Ministry's contract with L&T also includes a follow-up option for an additional 50 K9 Vajra-T guns.

Despite the bids for the weapon being made under the "Buy Global" provision of the defense ministry's procurement procedure, the K9 Vajra-T will be manufactured at L&T's Talegaon plant, located near Pune.

When the purchase is finalized, the exchange will mark the first howitzers to be inducted into India's Army after the procurement of Bofors 155mm guns nearly 30 years ago.
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Indian_Army_likely_to_get_K9_Vajra-T_howitzers_999.html

 

[Bornubus]

This is the only area where we lag behind pak both quantitatively and qualitatively.

It'll out gun their 90 Chinese SPH 1 and on par with US Paladin.

 

[ezsasa]

MoD concludes deal with L&T for K9 Vajra-T Howitzers

India is set to award its largest order for military equipment to the private sector, with the Ministry of Defence concluding negotiations with Larsen & Toubro for 100 new mobile artillery guns that may be deployed along the western border to blunt the edge that Pakistan has with US-supplied weapons.

The Rs 4,500-crore contract for the K9 Vajra-T howitzer, which had been under price negotiations since the beginning of this year, has been finalised and the defence ministry is set to move it to the Cabinet Committee on Security for approval.

Besides being the first artillery gun to be made by a private firm in India — only the Ordnance Factory Board has produced howitzers in the past — the value of the contract makes it the largest to be entrusted to the industry.

"The deal has now been frozen as the price negotiations have been completed. A Cabinet approval for the contract is expected to come through over the next month or so, following which the order will be placed," a person involved in negotiations told ET.

L&T, which has Samsung as its technology partner for the contract, will produce the guns in India under a JV company. Close to 50% of the gun will be indigenised and manufactured in India at L&T's Strategic Systems Complex at Talegaon near Pune. The 155-mm artillery guns are specially designed for operation in the desert areas bordering Pakistan and have been a long-standing requirement of the Indian Army.

The mobile artillery guns will take on a Pakistani battlefield edge on the back of artillery guns supplied by the US. Concerns over Islamabad acquiring a conventional edge heightened in 2009 when the US supplied it 115 of the modern M109A5 cannons as a 'reward' for its assistance in the war on the Afghanistan border.

While the initial order is for 100 guns to be delivered within four years of signing the contract, the number may double as the deal has a follow-on clause. L&T won the bid for the army's contract last year in a global competition against a Russian company, which failed to clear technical trials.

Industry experts said the contract would boost the private sector, which has been scouring for orders from the defence ministry.

"This proposed contract, which could well be the singlelargest inked by an Indian private sector player, will have a multiplier effect not just on the revenue but also on the confidence of the relevant tiered participants of the indigenous defence industrial base. In addition, it will serve as a beacon for other private players when it will eventually get signed," said Ankur Gupta, vice-president A&D at EY India.

http://www.defencenews.in/article/MoD-concludes-deal-with-LandT-for-K9-Vajra-T-Howitzers-6379