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Wednesday, Jul 11, 2007
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Artillery guns: fresh tenders to be invited

Special Correspondent

Army not satisfied with the trial run of Bofors guns which ran for four years: Antony

— Photo: Sandeep Saxena

New Route: Defence Minister A.K. Antony being presented with a flag by Mount Everest expedition team leader Lt. Col. I.S. Thapa in New Delhi on Tuesday. Army Chief General J.J. Singh is at right.

NEW DELHI: After an evaluation process that lasted for over five years, the Army has decided to call for fresh international tenders for towed artillery guns to replace the Bofors units, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said here on Tuesday.

“The Army is not satisfied with the trials, which ran for four years. We will issue the tenders at the earliest and ensure that these guns are inducted into the Army in the shortest possible time,” he said after flagging off an Army expedition to Mount Everest, for the first time from the Chinese side.

The order is estimated at Rs.4,000 crore.

The Army sorely requires artillery systems, but problems, both political and technical, had dogged the tender.

While Denel of South Africa was blacklisted for allegedly accessing the Defence Ministry’s confidential documents on tender evaluation, there has been political foot-dragging on accommodating the BAE Systems-SWS Defence, earlier known as Bofors. The test guns of the third participant, Soltam of Israel, despite being backed by a section of the establishment, did not measure up to the technical and ruggedness parameters sought by the Army.

The decision to seek fresh proposals could see the entry of companies that have waited on the sidelines while trials of the three gun systems went on in different terrain and environmental conditions since 2002.

The Germans and Russians have shown interest in joining the fray for 400 guns to be purchased off the shelf and another 1,000 to be manufactured in the country under transfer of technology.

Crucial operations

The U.S. could also see one of its companies making a bid for the systems as it could pave the way for their entry into the heart of the Army’s crucial operations systems.

The Koreans and the French also have proven artillery weapon systems.

Last year, BAE Systems-SWS Defence openly asked, “what was left to demonstrate to the Indian Army” after five trials spread over as many years? “I really want to know what the question is so that I can give the right answer. We are in dialogue and discussion with the Indian Army over this issue,” company chairman Hakan Kangert had told The Hindu.

Analysts feel that the Army could have been uncomfortable with the idea of a single vendor being left in the fray, that too a company once associated with Bofors after Soltam’s gun broke down in the Pokhran desert.

The re-tendering, they say, will lead to a delay in modernising one of the three combat arms of the Army.

The other two — infantry and the armoured — are progressively being equipped with modern arms and military platforms but the artillery upgrade programme, especially of the heavy duty guns, had been on hold.

BAE Systems-SWS Defence has been at pains to disassociate itself from Bofors, which was involved in a major bribery scandal here, but to no avail. There are no takers for Mr. Kangert’s assertion that “we separated over 10 years ago. From the image point of view, we don’t like it [being associated with Bofors]” because of the perception of a scandal associated with the Bofors name.

Indigenous systems

On the other hand, there has been little movement on producing indigenous artillery systems, with a recent parliamentary committee report observing that the “Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has not undertaken any research work on the gun despite the committee’s recommendations in an earlier report.” Following this prodding, the DRDO has taken the first step of conducting the engineering feasibility study of foreign artillery systems.

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