Breaking news
South Korea in partnership with India will provide K-9 Vajra self-propelled howitzer to Indian army 10810151.
| 2015
|
|
|||
|
Defence & Security News - India
|
|||
|
|
|||
| South Korea in partnership with India will provide K-9 Vajra self-propelled howitzer to Indian army. | |||
|
Indian engineering major, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), in partnership with Korea's Samsung Techwin (STW), has bagged a Rs 4,875-crore ($750 million) order for supplying the Indian Army with 100 self-propelled tracked howitzers, K-9 Vajra.
|
|||
|
|
|||
 K9 Vajra 155mm self-propelled howitzer at DefExpo 2012, defense exhibition in New Delhi, India. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
The K-9 Vajra consist of a 155-mm, 52-calibre howitzer, mounted on a tracked vehicle. It is highly mobile and can keep up with tank columns in the open desert. The Indian army wants this gun for its mechanized strike corps, which launches rapid thrusts deep into enemy territory.
The K9 Vajra is a variant oft he South-Korean-made K9 155mm self-propelled howitzer especially designed for operation in the desert areas bordering Pakistan. The strike corps' T-90S tanks currently outpace their artillery guns, which are towed by wheeled vehicles. This constrains the tank spearheads to fight without artillery support at key moments in the advance. With the K-9 Vajra mounted on a tracked vehicle that keeps up with tanks, the armour spearheads would be assured of heavy fire support. The contract falls under the "Buy Global" category of procurement, which provides for over-the-counter sales of ready-built defence equipment. Despite that, STW has partnered L&T to ensure that a full 50 per cent of the weapon system is built in India. L&T plans to build 13 major sub-systems of the K-9 Vajra at its facilities in Pune, Talegaon and Powai. This includes the fire control system, ammunition handling system, muzzle velocity radar, and the nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) system. With the acquisition subject to 30 per cent offset liability, the high percentage of domestic manufacture meets that requirement easily. The army requires at least three K-9 Vajra regiments for each of its three armoured divisions, and another regiment for each of the independent armoured brigades in the three strike corps. The eventual requirement, therefore, is of 12 regiments of tracked SP guns, ie, 252 K-9 Vajra systems. |
|||