BAE Systems Plc has given India the option of making howitzers locally to help conclude a deal that would equip an army strike force patrolling the Chinese border with the weapons, reports today Bloomberg Business Week.
Talks are under way with India’s Defense Ministry to finalize the proposal for local assembly and testing of M777 artillery, according to John Kelly, a vice president at U.S. unit BAE Systems Land & Armaments Inc. While the army is seeking to buy 145 howitzers for the planned mountain strike corps, Kelly said it may require as many as 450.
“If the quantity is higher, then we have more opportunity for indigenisation and that’s what we are working through at the moment,” he said in an interview in New Delhi two days ago. “What we see is to bring the crown jewel of the manufacturing process into India. It’s very much in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ push.”
An initial offer by BAE Systems to sell the 145 guns to India for $697 million stalled in October 2013. Kelly said the price now could be about 6 percent to 8 percent higher. The London-based company is also interested in India’s Futuristic Infantry Combat Vehicles project, he said.
Read the full story at ArmyRecognition