Indian Military

New Delhi – The Indian government has once again floated tenders for Towed and Tracked Gun Systems and vendors from various countries like France, Britain and the U.S have been invited for the bids. The acquisition is a major part of the Indian Army’s modernisation programme but has always suffered setbacks due to repeat cancellations of the tender. While the process to acquire towed and tracked gun systems was initiated in 2006, tenders have been cancelled due to the alleged corruption and scams involving the bidding companies from abroad.

However, India has come close to negotiating the acquisition of 145 ultra light guns from BAE Systems US called the M-777 A1 since the trials for the same have been concluded in India. India plans to acquire this gun through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route and the US Congress has already given its clearance.

The M-777 A1 is an ultra light 155mm/45 calibre gun and its striking features include its mobility, transportability, survivability and lethality.

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New Delhi –The Indian Army has come under the scanner once again following the recent mysterious leaking of a classified report related to the field trial of the M777 ultra-light Howitzer that was concluded recently. The pages of the classified report that have leaked contain evidence that the M-777 howitzer had failed the field trials concluded in December 2010.

The company that now own Bofors, the BAE Systems of US, makes the ultra light Howitzer M777 which is to be procured through a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route by India from the US. The acquisition is to be made through the government-to- government FMS route and is worth over $647 million for 10 regiments (160) guns. However, according to the leaked pages of the report, the Howitzer gun appears to have failed the recent trials on several parameters.

New Delhi – In the Indian Union Budget for the year 2011-2012, the Indian Finance Ministry has given special attention to defence by increasing the defence outlay whilst keeping India’s strategic goals at par by facilitating capital for the big-ticket purchases in the current fiscal year.

As per the defence budget for the fiscal 2011-12, the Indian Finance Ministry has given a 11.6 per cent hike which amounts to $34 billion. The hike of 11.6 per cent in defence budgetary allocations is a positive step compared to a mere 4 per cent last year. There has been 9 per cent jump in revenue expenditure and the Finance Ministry has also scaled up capital expenditure by providing more impetus to the modernization plans of the Indian Armed Forces. The defence capital acquisition for the financial year 2011-12 has been hiked to $12.22 billion, while capital expenditure for the same has been raised by about 12 percent to $15.38 billion.

As for the break-up of the total budgetary allocation, the Indian Army has been granted $14.

New Delhi – Indo-US military ties are expected to be heightened as the Indian Army Chief General VK Singh’s six-day long visit to the US is currently underway. The US visit comes two years after former Indian Army Chief had visited the country. The current Indian delegation includes the Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar.

Among the main highlights of this US visit will be a discussion regarding the procurement of 145 ultra light howitzers (ULHs) which India intends to buy from the US through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route. It may be noted that since the infamous Bofors scam in the 1980s, Indian artillery has not seen the induction of a new gun in the last two decades. Currently, BAE Systems of US is making the M-777 ULH but the process has been disrupted again as trial reports of the howitzer were leaked prompting the Army Headquarters to order a court of inquiry.

During the current visit, the Indian Army Chief General VK Singh would also be discussing the acquisition of ten C-17 heavy lift transport aircraft and the procurement of the Javelin missile system which India plans to acquire through the FMS route as well.

NEW DELHI: Faced with growing Chinese military presence along the border and other complex security challenges in the region, the government is planning to increase the strength of the Indian Army by almost one lakh soldiers over the next five years.
Authoritative sources told TOI that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has approved a Rs 64,000-crore (approximately $13 billion) military modernization plan that would include raising four new divisions along the India-China border. Two of these would be part of a Mountain Strike Corps dedicated to offensive operations. The plan also includes raising two independent brigades, one in Ladakh and the other in Uttarakhand.
Once cleared, this would be the biggest ever modernization and expansion package for the army. It would also be the largest increase in deployment along the China border seen since the immediate aftermath of the 1962 war.
Two weeks ago, MoD sent its plan to the finance ministry for scrutiny and approval, authoritative sources said.

New Delhi — Ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit to India, Indo-US defence deals are gaining more momentum than ever before. While it has been suggested that no big-ticket defence deal will be formalized during the visit, the US has already claimed a substantial chunk of defence contracts from India in recent times.

During a recent seminar on the release of the KPMG-American Chamber of Commerce report on the “Indian Defence sector: The improving landscape for US business and Indo-US commercial enterprise”, India has acknowledged the fact that the US is a key partner in the defence arena because it fulfils developmental goals and aspirations.

While the US has already ousted Russia to be become the leading exporter of defence wares to India, US companies have bagged over 40 per cent of the recent defence deals in India. According to the KPMG-American Chamber of Commerce report on the Indian Defence sector, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and GE Aviation totally won contracts worth around $3.

Indian Defence Online, New Delhi — After a spate of scrapped tenders and trials for the Indian Army’s artillery gun, defence public sector undertaking Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) has announced that it is ready with the indigenous 155mm, 52-calibre wheeled gun.

BEML has been made the nodal processing agency and the Indian government has permitted BEML to invite global tenders for the 155mm guns and the proposed contract for over 1,000 guns, besides other ranges of artillery guns including Howitzers. The estimated worth of these contracts is 20,000 crore.

The Indian Army has been desperately short of artillery firepower and a long-range state-of-the-art gun has been due for two decades since the Bofors gun controversy in the 1980s. The Indian Army’s 180-odd artillery gun regiments, each having 18 guns, have not received any new weaponry since the Bofors gun was bought in the late 1980s.

The selection of a suitable 155 mm, 52-calibre towed howitzer to fill this gap began only in 2002, when the Defence Ministry began evaluating three guns from BAE Systems, Israeli firm Soltam and Denel of South Africa.