Breaking news
Indian Army will replace old 40mm L/70 anti-aircraft guns with weapons from local companies 1103141.
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Defence & Security News - India |
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| Tuesday, March 11, 2014 07:32 AM | |||
| Indian Army will replace old 40mm L/70 anti-aircraft guns with weapons from local companies. | |||
The
Indian Army will replace its aging Swedish-built 40mm
L/70 air defense guns with weapons from domestic companies,
a Defence Ministry source said. The Indian Ministry of Defense decided
this month to launch a $400 million domestic-only tender, the source said,
to purchase 430 gun systems to replace the four-decade-old L/70 guns. |
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 The Army of India operates about 2,000 L/70s, bought in the 1960s from Sweden, and upgraded in 1995 by BEL by adding a digital fire-control system. |
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The tender, expected to be issued in three months, will go to state-owned Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) and the Ordnance Factory Board, and to private-sector companies Tata Power SED, L&T, Punj Lloyd and Bharat Forge. The new L/70 guns,
which will be bought from local companies along with ammunition, will
be used to protect areas of tactical importance in the mountains, plains,
desert and semi-desert terrain. The new guns will be linked to advanced fire-control radars to automatically lock on to the target and signal the fire. The Army requires that the guns have the ability to engage air targets at a range of at least 4,000 meters and be capable of firing 1,000 rounds per minute. The Army operates about 2,000 L/70s, bought in the 1960s from Sweden, and upgraded in 1995 by BEL by adding a digital fire-control system. The gun’s rate of fire was increased from 240 to 300 rounds per minute by the state-owned Defence Research and Development Organisation. The Army has been pressing since 1997 for a full upgrade of the L/70s, including the addition of advanced radars, upgraded night-vision devices and the use of smart ammunition. |
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