Nirmala Sitharaman inducts 3 major artillery gun systems including M777 American Ultra Light Howitzers, K-9 Vajra into army

Deolali: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday inducted three major artillery gun systems, including the M777 American Ultra Light Howitzers and the  K-9 Vajra, into the Army. The third gun system inducted is the ‘Composite Gun Towing Vehicle’ for towing some of the existing guns in service with the country, while K-9 Vajra is a self-propelled artillery gun. The induction ceremony here comes ahead of establishing the first regiment- each comprising of about 18 guns- of the M777s and the Vajra by around mid next year, an official said. For procuring 145 M777s, India in November 2016 had entered into a contract with the United States under the Foreign Military Sales programme for Rs 5,070 crore. The M777s, which have been used in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, can be easily transported to high altitude areas by helicopters.

@DefenceMinIndia inducts state of the art gun systems including M 777 ULH and K9 VAJRA guns in Army after a gap of over three decades and gives the credit to laborious efforts of MoD and Services. @adgpi @indiannavy @IAF_MCC pic.twitter.com/xkVQ6p1Iex

— Ministry of Defence, Government of India (@SpokespersonMoD) November 9, 2018

Smt @nsitharaman interacts with officers at Deolali at the induction ceremony of new state-of-the-art gun systems into the India Army and talks about how these would impact preparedness. For the first time have 2 state-of-the-art gun systems have been inducted at the same time. pic.twitter.com/2Mk0CZhDuz

— रक्षा मंत्री कार्यालय/ RMO India (@DefenceMinIndia) November 9, 2018