NEW DELHI - Nearly three decades after its last artillery purchase India appears ready to finally move forward on a project desperately needed to shore up the Indian Army's aging, inadequate inventory. The Defense Acquisition Council (DAC) - set up in 2001 and charged with overseeing all high-value military procurements - has cleared a proposal for 814 mounted 155mm/52-caliber howitzers at the cost of an estimated $2.4 billion. The decision by the DAC came in the first meeting chaired under new Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar.
The Indian Army's artillery inventory was to be upgraded and modernized under the Field Artillery Rationalization Plan (FARP), which was introduced in 2000. The FARP called for purchases of 3,000-3,600 155mm howitzers in two calibers (39- and 52-) that would come in towed, mounted and self-propelled (both wheeled and tracked) forms. These would be both imported and licensed-produced locally, cost a total of $5-7 billion and all be delivered by 2027 (which will mark the end of the Army's 14th Five-Year Finance Plan).
But to date the plan has been dragged down by bureaucratic delays, the issuing and re-issuing of tenders (a common Indian practice), failed and inconclusive trials and unfeasible Qualitative Requirements issued by the Artillery Directorate. A total of six different artillery tenders have been issued over the years, but each was canceled for various reasons, most commonly the blacklisting of foreign vendors on charges of corruption. The former Congress-led governing coalition proved highly-sensitive to charges of corruption in military procurement and its overly-cautious approach led to numerous delays in Indian defense acquisition resulting in the current obsolete and worsening state of Indian Army artillery.
In elections held last spring a new government under the nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept into power with the vow to jump-start the sluggish military modernization process. It could hardly choose a more crucial area with which to focus its attention on than revamping the artillery corps.
The Indian Army's three artillery divisions operate six different caliber field guns, most of which are obsolete in terms of technology and condition. Worse, the numbers of serviceable guns continues to slip leaving the Army bereft of adequate artillery capability at a time the MoD plans to stand up a new mountain strike corps along the country's Himalayan border with China to counter aggressive Chinese behavior along the two countries' Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The 155mm/52-caliber howitzer bid will be open to both public and private vendors with an Indian company placed in the lead under the "Buy & Make Indian" procurement category. Under this category a local firm may tie-up with a foreign company so long as the platform in question is ultimately license-produced in India.
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