Govt clears plan to acquire 814 artillery guns for `15,570 crore

The artillery guns would be procured as per the ‘Buy and Make’ procedure introduced last year under which 100 such guns would be bought off the shelf while 714 would be made in India.

Manohar Parrikar came to the Union Cabinet with a formidable lineage. He is one of the closest acolytes of the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, and as Defence Minister he clearly had the PM’s ear. The first Defence Acquisition Committee (DAC) meeting, thus rightfully talked about studying the issue of ‘Make in India’ and decided to make it more attractive for those who buy into it. Otherwise, the DAC this Saturday did not have much to write home about. It decided to issue fresh request for proposal (RFP) for 155 mm, 52 calibre truck-mounted artillery guns. But they will be in the Buy and Make (Indian) category; so an Indian firm will have to find an overseas partner to make the much artillery piece. For, the artillery wing of the Indian Army have been without a new gun since end-1980s when the newly acquired Bofors gun that Rajiv Gandhi government bought blew up in its face, giving an impression that the purchase was dubious in its dealings.

This new gun have many domestic players who are attempting to make it. The Tatas have a gun in the works, but with a barrel that is of Denel, South African origin. 

Denel was blacklisted by the ministry of defence (MoD) for wrongdoings in the times of Congress’s ‘Mr Clean,’ AK Anthony tenure, soon after he took office as the defence minister.