DEFENCE NEWS
DESI BOFORS TO PLUG GAP IN ARMY'S FIRE POWER
[It has a range of 38 km]
The desi version of the original Suredish 155 mm Bofors howitzers, which proved its worth by wreaking havoc upon Pakistani intruders during the 1999 Kargil conflict, is now all set to plug huge operational gaps in the long range, high-volume fire-power of the Army. The Defence Ministry has placed an order worth over Rs. 1,260 crore for, acquisition of 114 of the artillery field guns, developed by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), which has used the designs obtained under the Transfer of Technology (ToT) provisions in the infamous Rs. 1,437 crore Bofors contract of 1986 to develop the new guns.
The order is in tune with Defence Minister A. K. Antony's latest directive, issued in the aftermath of the bribery controversy in the VVIP helicopters' contract, for a greater thrust on indigenization to avoid scams. It will also serve to 'exorcize' the almost three-decade-old Boforsghost-which in later years got reinforced by
scandals around other global artillery manufacturers like South African Denel, Israeli Soltam and Singapore Technology Kinetics (STK)-and prevented the Army from inducting even a single 155 mm howitzer since the mid-1980s
0 comments:
Post a Comment