New Delhi April 21 (IANS) Indian engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Hanwha Techwin (HTW) of South Korea on Friday signed a contract to provide the Indian Army with a mobile artilley gun.
After succesful completion of the trails for 155mm/52 caliber Tracked Self-Propelled (SP) Gun programme by the Army L&T was declared the sole qualified bidder based on the performance of its K9 VAJRA-T.
The gun is an enhanced version of HTW s K9 Thunder with modifications for desert operations.
Generally artillery guns are towed by trucks but self-propelled guns are either mounted on a wheeled or tracked chasis allowing them to move on their own.
Jayant Patil Head of Defence and Aerospace L&T said: This contract marks an important milestone in L&T s Defence Business journey and in our relationship with Hanwha Techwin.
L&T plans to begin production of this vital weapon system at its Strategic Systems Complex at Talegaon near Pune and deliver the first batch of 10 guns.
L&T also has initiated setting up of a greenfield manufacturing line at Hazira Gujarat integral with a state-of-the-art test track to produce test and qualify the K9 VAJRA-T guns he added.
The Indian Army in 2011 came up with a Request for Proposal (RFP) under Buy (Global)category for 100 155mm/52 caliber Tracked Self Propelled (SP) Gun programme.
In 2013 field trials for the guns were conducted at Pokhran. In September 2015 L&T was declared the only company to qualify in trials.
The contract between the Indian Army and L&T is expected to be signed in a day or two. The gun has 50 per cent Indian content.
--IANS
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L&T, South Korean firm team up for artillery gun
