India clears $660 million deal for M777 artillery guns

[Agent_47]

NEW DELHI: The Indian Army got a shot in the arm today with the defence ministry clearing its long-pending $660 million (Rs.3,000 crore) proposal to buy 145 ultra-light howitzer guns to add teeth to its ageing inventory.

This is the first time the army is buying artillery guns in 27 years, since the Bofors guns payoff scandal broke out in the late 1980s.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by Defence Minister A K Antony, cleared the deal for the M777 BAE Systems guns that will be bought through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route of the US government.

The purchase comes in the wake of Indian Army chief Gen. V K Singh writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in March highlighting the gaps in its preparedness.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...l-for-artillery-guns/articleshow/13095688.cms

 

[Abingdonboy]

The day has come my friends, the day has come!!!!!!!!

Forget fireworks, time to light up the skies:

 

[KRAIT]

Huh.............Finally.........

 

[holysaturn]

excellent news now we can allot those 150 105mm field guns to the west..........

 

[acetophenol]

Oh god! I thought that it'll be my son who brings me this news!

 

[arp2041]

don't understand, one day suddenly the MOD rises & clears a deal which is so necessary for armed forces modernization, I wonder if they are working with a plan or are working randomly? Please don't make armed forces modernization a game of dice. A suggestion to Indian army chief would be to write such letters more frequently if possible daily

 

[Abingdonboy]

don't understand, one day suddenly the MOD rises & clears a deal which is so necessary for armed forces modernization, I wonder if they are working with a plan or are working randomly? Please don't make armed forces modernization a game of dice. A suggestion to Indian army chief would be to write such letters more frequently if possible daily

The choice of M-777 by the IA is clearly working to a plan, the MoD procurement timings are pretty much rolls of dice and these fresh wave of deals seem to be working to the plan of "saving our own backsides"!!

 

[Agent_47]

The letter bomb of Chief is working!

 

[Abingdonboy]

The letter bomb of Chief is working!

Of course we don't know what might have happend had he not written this letter- it might look from the outside this is as a direct result of the letter but this deal has been pending for sometime and was always expected to be signed this FY. Oh well all's well that ends well!!

 

[Ajaxpaul]

Are these guns the same class as our bofors ?

 

[Agent_47]

The 155mm Bofors aims towards Tiger Hill, a key Himalayan Peak in Dras.

#kargil war

 

[Archie]

Are these guns the same class as our bofors ?

These are Ultra Light Howitzers

They will be deployed in 2 Mountain Regiments which were raised in 2010, These will replace the Light Field Guns currently operated by these Regiments

 

[Agnostic_Indian]

finally it happened,
btw army chief might have tiered of writing letters in the past, this one worked because it leaked some how, so thank the hands who did it.

 

[SEAL]

Wow few anti-Pak statements in India from Hillary Clinton got her 660 Million$ deal keep it up USA.

 

[Indian009]

Double the god dam order. We don't know when this will happen again
BTW Gooooood news