Army gunning for ammunition to replace 1960s-era arms

A $2.6-billion (₹16,900 crore) proposal to acquire air defence guns (ADGs) for the Army has finally got under way.

The Defence Ministry’s Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has issued an RFI (request for information) seeking collaborators for the development and production of guns and ammunition.

The guns will replace the 1960s-era Swedish weapons now in use. The Centre had approved the acquisition of new guns in 2015 after the Army said the nation’s security was at risk as the air defence inventory was obsolete.

The Army seeks to procure 428 guns and several rounds of about 45,00,000 of ammunition under the buy-and-make category of the Defence Procurement Procedure.

Sources said domestic companies including State-owned Bharat Electronics are in the fray. Among other Indian firms that have expressed interest are Punj Lloyd, Bharat Forge, Tata Power and Larsen & Toubro.

The domestic companies will need to team up with multinational defence players in order to manufacture the new guns, the sources added.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) had okayed the ADG procurement at its meeting last July. It had also decided that the Army’s L70 and Zu 23 mm guns need to be replaced under the buy-and-make category.

The new ADGs are to replace the aging L-70 ADG and will protect areas of tactical importance in the mountains, plains, desert and semi-desert terrains.

It will have the versatility to be towed or mounted on a high-mobility vehicle configuration, the sources said, adding that the new guns are likely to be linked to advanced fire control radars.

The sources added that the L-70 successor guns will be bought in phases. The first order cleared by the DAC is for 428 guns over the next five years.

The OFB’s Indian Ordnance Factories in Kolkata will also participate in the order. It is an industrial set-up comprising 41 ordnance factories, which functions under the Ministry of Defence.

The conglomerate of manufacturing units supplies tanks, artillery guns, ADGs, infantry weapons and ammunition, among other products, to the armed forces. The OFB has issued an RFI for the selection of partner to collaborate on the new guns.

It has noted that prospective collaborators should be “willing to be associated with OFB through a technology collaboration agreement to manufacture, supply and support gun and ammunition system” with mutually beneficial work share arrangements.

It has stated that the partner “should be willing to offer the guns and ammunition for field trial against request for proposal to be issued by the Ministry of Defence.”

It has also asked that the partners “should give their willingness to provide technical support to OFB, including supply of production documentation, technological documents, deputation of technical specialists to OFB premises, and any other support required to establish and maintain indigenous production...

“This shall continue till the service life of the system.”