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Indian Army set to get advanced weapons
For the first time after the infamous Bofors controversy rocked the defence establishment in the late 1980s, India is now finally moving towards acquiring deadly firepower in the shape of advanced artillery and rocket systems. Top-level defence sources on Thursday said that the Army would initially induct four regiments of tracked and wheeled 155 mm self-propelled artillery systems; five regiments of 155mm towed guns; and two regiments each of the long-range Russian "Smerch" multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) and the indigenous medium-range "Pinaka" MLRS. This entire project to fill a major gap in the Armyâs existing artillery arsenal will be worth an estimated Rs 10,000 crore. "We are also looking at integrating the Israeli rocket trajectory correcting system (TCS) with Pinaka to achieve pin-point accuracy," said a source. Thatâll upset the neighbors. South African armament firm Denel has been selected for the contract for the four regiments (18 guns each) of the 155 mm self-propelled guns. The "tracked G series" 52-calibre guns will be mounted on âArjunâ main battle tank chassis for deployment in desert areas. Maybe the best 155mm gun in the world. The "wheeled" guns, in turn, will be autonomous units for areas like the Punjab and Jammu sectors. "The detailed note for these guns has been sent to the finance ministry," said an officer. The bid for the five regiments of the 155mm towed guns is still being contested among three contenders - South Africa âs Denel , Israel âs Soltam and SWS (Swedish Weapon Systems) Defence - after two rounds of trials in the summers of 2002 and 2003. As for the âSmerchâ MLRS, which can fire a salvo of rockets at targets 90 km away, sources said the âCommercial Negotiations Committeeâ was slated to begin discussions with Russia soon. "The absence of longer range MLRS was felt during Kargil. Existing rocket systems have a range of only 20 km. Pinaka (40 km range) and Smerch will effectively fill the gap," said an artillery officer. The Pakistaniâs will seethe over this purchase. Posted by: Steve 2004-02-05 |
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