Boom! India in $660 m deal for howitzers aimed at China

New York: The last time India bought a big gun, it backfired. But nearly 26 years after the controversy over the purchase of Swedish Bofors guns, the defence ministry on Friday approved the purchase of 145 ultra-light howitzers made by the multinational BAE Systems Inc for around $660 million (Rs 3,540 crore). The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by defence minister AK Antony on Friday cleared the government-to-government transaction where India will acquire the artillery guns (which are assembled in the US) under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route. The proposal approved by the DAC will now be put up before the finance ministry for clearance before it is taken up by the Cabinet Committee on Security for final approval. Analysts say that these lightweight guns are expected to be used in the rugged border areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. The Israeli defence magazine Defense Update noted  that India’s deployment of the US artillery guns in the border areas would be “a direct reply to China’s forward deployment in these areas for the last three years.” [caption id=“attachment_307000” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“These ultra-light big guns will soon be deployed in India’s defence.    Credit: BAE Systems”] [/caption] Defence analyst C Uday Bhaskar told Mint that if India and the US applied “enough political traction”, the deal could be finalised within a few months. “Moreover, since it is between two governments, there is no transfer of technology or offsets involved, so it should not take very long,” Bhaskar told Mint. These approvals are significant since outgoing army chief General VK Singh had, in a 12 March letter to prime minister Manmohan Singh , raised an alarm over the depleting levels of ammunition and other weaknesses in the 1.3-million-strong force, pointed out Mint. The army chief had asked the prime minister to “pass suitable directions to enhance the preparedness of the army.” He had written a similar letter to Antony in February. With China flexing its muscles, India can’t afford to neglect its military weakness for much longer. India last bought guns for the army in March 1986, when it bought 410 155mm howitzer field guns from Sweden’s Bofors AB for an estimated $285 million. A year later, The Hindu exposed that nearly $12.77 million were paid in kickbacks; that investigation effectively scuppered prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s campaign in the 1989 elections. The experience also left everyone gun-shy. Since then, the army has not bought howitzers. Friday’s announcement signals that India may finally be ready to prioritise the army’s desperate need for modern equipment. According to Mint, the clearance for the M777 guns comes just a day after the cabinet committee on security cleared the purchase of 75 Pilatus PC-7 Mk-II basic trainers of Swiss origin to train air force pilots. The Indian Air Force had been without a basic trainer plane since July 2009, when its fleet of HPT-32 Deepak trainers was grounded after several trainee pilots died in accidents involving the ageing aircraft. One reason India is beefing up its arsenal is China, which has been expanding its military and modernising its equipment at a tear. This has triggered a simultaneous build-up of advanced weaponry in the Asia-Pacific region on a scale and at a speed not seen since the Cold War arms race between America and the Soviet Union. The 155mm M777 ultra-light howitzers green-lighted by the defence ministry are made by BAE Systems using titanium and aluminum alloys. At an overall weight of 3,745 kg, the M777 guns can be transported by helicopter, or transport planes. They are currently being used in rugged, mountainous terrain in Afghanistan by the US Army where they have been very reliable. The maximum firing range of the 115mm 39-calibre artillery gun is 24.7 km with unassisted rounds, and 30 km with rocket-assisted rounds. It can fire at least five rounds per minute. (An earlier version of the article incorrectly stated that BAE Systems was a US firm. In fact, BAE Systems is a British multinational; the final assembly of the M777 howitzers is, however, in the US.)