Samsung, L & T Bag Indian Army’s $750 Million Howitzer Deal

Korea's Samsung Techwin and its Indian partner Larsen & Toubro (L&T), has won a Rs $750 million order to supply the Indian Army with 100 self-propelled (SP), tracked howitzers.

Indian publication Business Standard reported that the defence ministry has written to L&T and Samsung informing them that their gun - called the K-9 Vajra - has cleared army trials conducted in 2013 and 2014.

The ministry has written to the other vendor in contention, Russia's arms export agency, Rosoboronexport (RoE), rejecting the gun it offered, the 2S19 MSTA howitzer.

The K-9 Vajra consist of a 155-mm, 52-calibre howitzer, mounted on a tracked vehicle. It is highly mobile and can keep up with tank columns in the open desert. The Indian army wants this gun for its mechanized strike corps, which launches rapid thrusts deep into enemy territory. The strike corps' T-90S tanks currently outpace their artillery guns, which are towed by wheeled vehicles.

Samsung and L&T will manufacture about 50 per cent of the weapon system in India. L&T plans to build 13 major sub-systems of the K-9 Vajra at its facilities in Pune, Talegaon and Powai. This includes the fire control system, ammunition handling system, muzzle velocity radar, and the nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) system.