Nearly 27 years after the controversy over the purchase of howitzers from Swedish-based AB Bofors the Government of India approved today the purchase of 145 M77 155/39-caliber howitzers at a total cost of $650 million from BAE Systems. The decision to go ahead with the procurement of US made howitzers under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route was taken at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister AK Antony. The projects approved by the DAC will now be put up before the Finance Ministry for clearance before they are taken up by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for final approval.
These lightweight guns are expected to deploy in the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir that have border with China. It is widely believed that the deployment of the M777 in the areas bordering China is a direct reply to China’s forward deployment in these areas for the last 3 years.
Read the full story at DefenseUpdate