Nexter submitted its final bid for Indian Artillery to pitch its Trajan and Caesar howitzers 32403166

Defence & Security News - Nexter Systems
 
Nexter submitted its final bid for Indian Artillery to pitch its Trajan and Caesar howitzers
Nexter submitted on Feb. 15 its final bid in an Indian tender for a €1 billion ($1.1 billion) contract for 1,400 155mm towed cannons, Stéphane Mayer, chairman of the land armaments company, told a parliamentary committee.
     
     

“We submitted our final offer Feb. 15,” Mayer told the National Assembly defense committee on March 2. The competition, worth €1 billion and the largest for land weapons, will yield “the contract of the century for artillery,” he said.

Indian authorities have set final selection between the two bidders by the end of the year, to allow for exclusive negotiations, he said.

Nexter has teamed with local partner Larsen & Toubro to pitch its Trajan 155mm/52 caliber gun against Elbit Systems, partnered with Bharat Forge.

The TRAJAN combines two well-known Nexter’s systems, the 155 mm/39 calibre TR Towed Gun System and the 155 mm/52 calibre CAESAR truck-mounted artillery (deployed in Afghanistan and in Lebanon).

TRAJAN integrates the fire power of CAESAR into a modern and very efficient towed artillery gun for all firing missions from direct support firing to in-depth action.

Thanks to embedded electronics as INU (Inertial Navigation Unit), Automatic Laying and Relaying System, TRAJAN is a formidable, efficient, and very accurate system. The 155 mm/52 calibre artillery (Joint Ballistic MoU) is compatible with all NATO standard ammunition, but also ERFB shells with smart ammunition (BONUS, SPACIDO, etc.). The maximum range is similar to CAESAR, up to 42 km with an ERFB and even 55 km through the use of rocket-assisted projectile. Day and night sight devices can engage a target in direct firing at up to 2000 m.

The TRAJAN system can be put into action in less than 1'30". The gun is served by a six-man crew and is very much facilitated by automation of operations for putting it into or taking it out of action, for aiming and by an automatic loading of shells. These elements also make operations more secure. The TRAJAN firing rate is six rounds per minute.
     
Nexter submitted its final bid for Indian Artillery pitching its Trajan and Caesar howitzers 640 002Nexter Caesar 155 mm self-propelled howitzer
     

The French state-owned company is also pitching its Caesar 155mm/52 caliber cannon in a second Indian tender for 800 truck-mounted guns, with a bid due in 2018, Mayer said. That Indian project compares to 77 units delivered to the French Army.

The Indian defense acquisition council approved in November 2014 a budget of $2.5 billion for 814 of truck-mounted artillery, dubbed mounted gun system.

On the truck-mounted gun, Nexter has teamed with Larsen & Toubro and Ashok Leyland, with the latter for the truck chassis.

For Qatar’s tender for 300 infantry fighting vehicles, Nexter has given demonstration trials with its véhicule blindé de combat et infanterie, with a heavier gun than the weapon fitted on the French Army VBCI, he said.

(Defensenews.com)