A wargame conducted last month anticipates higher prices, fewer products and reduced manpower as a result of the corporatisation of process of India’s Ordnance Factory Board that traces its origins to the early 18th century and employs an estimated 80,000-strong workforce.
The Indian Army will receive the first BAE Systems M777 lightweight howitzer within six months from today and all 145 guns have to be delivered within 52 months.
Take a good look, up close, at the BAE Systems M-777 lightweight artillery that the Indian Army is planning to acquire.
Check out the Ceasar artillery system mounted on an Ashok Leyland platform as Evelyne Montet shows it off at DefExpo.
Take a good, hard look at the 155 mm towed howitzer built by India’s Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) on the basis of designs transferred by Bofors in the 1980s.
BAE Systems is showing off its 155mm 39 caliber towed howitzer, 127-mm 54-caliber naval gun, Wheeled and Light Armored Vehicles, and Helmet Mounted Displays.
The 37 percent escalation by a margin of roughly INR 1,200 crore for the US government offer to India for 145 M-777 light weight howitzers comes into effect on Tuesday, along with the imminent closure of the assembly line for the artillery.
The failure to consider the order by the DAC has wider implications as it is unlikely that any decision can be taken on this order by October 15, after which the value of the deal will see a 37 percent hike.
The Indian defense ministry has till October to take the US government offer for the purchase of 145 light weight howitzers at the price of USD 694 million, after which the increased price of USD 885 million will come into play.
In purely dollar terms, the new price represents a 37 percent hike in the cost of the offer to India, but would effectively be even higher given the fall in the value of the rupee against the dollar since 2010.
Dean McCumiskey, Managing Director and Chief Executive of BAE Systems’ India operations told StratPost his company would be open to discussing any question of technical assistance the OFB might require, in its attempt to execute the designs and technology documentation transferred to it as part of the old Bofors howitzer procurement.
In the background of these challenges and the defence ministry’s inaction on a decision to blacklist the Singapore-based company, the OFB mandate should not become an excuse for lack of movement on the procurement of artillery by the army. Already, the ministry has been reported to have indicated it cannot move on the procurement as the matter is sub judice. At the same time, it has not decided the issue either, as is evident from the observations of the court. This has held up the acquisition of crucial types of artillery again, after the multiple cancellation of tenders since the Bofors buy.
India and Nepal are set to agree on a defense agreement known as the Indo-Nepal Defense Cooperation Framework.
