By IANS
New Delhi : India will float a fresh global tender for 400 artillery guns – to shore up its depleting stocks of Bofors howitzers – as four years of trials by the Indian Army have not been able to identify a suitable replacement, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said here Tuesday.
"Four years of trials have not been successful. The army is not satisfied (with the guns it has evaluated). Another global tender will be issued soon," Antony told reporters on the sidelines of a function here at which he flagged in an Indian Army expedition that last month scaled Mount Everest, the world's highest mountain.
"The army took the decision as it was not fully satisfied. It is not a question of my satisfaction or that of the defence ministry. The army has to be first satisfied," the minister maintained.
Two fresh tenders or request for proposals (RFPs) will now be issued for the 155mm howitzers that the Indian Army desperately needs to shore up its rapidly depleting stocks of the Bofors guns it acquired in 1986 amid accusations of corruption in the deal.
The gun had performed creditably during the 1999 Kargil War against Pakistan. Today, the army is down to 200 of the 400 original guns it had acquired due to normal wear and tear and cannibalisation to keep the other guns operational.
Three manufacturers had responded to a RFP issued in 2002 but after extensive trials, Bofors remained the only gun in the fray. This was after one of the contenders, Denel of South Africa, was blacklisted on corruption charges, while the Israeli Soltam gun suffered a barrel burst during desert trials in Rajasthan.
However, India's new Defence Procurement Procedure enunciated last year lays down that single vendor situations should be avoided, particularly in big-ticket purchases. Antony is believed to have taken the line that this should be followed in letter and spirit.
There have been reports that the Bofors gun at the current trials outperformed the others, but the Indian Army chief, Gen. J.J. Singh, discounted this Tuesday.
"It did not meet the qualitative requirement (QR or parameters) laid down. It is not the same gun that was used in Kargil. It's barrel was thicker and (the gun) had a longer range," Singh maintained, when asked why the Bofors gun had been rejected.
Singh also said the field trials would be "speeded up" after the responses to the new RFP were received.
"Once we receive the responses we will conduct extensive evaluations in summer and winter conditions before making a recommendation," he added.
Bofors had been blacklisted after the 1986 scandal but remained in the fray as it is now owned by BAe Systems Land and Armaments Division. Its manufacturing facility continues to be located in Karlskoga in Sweden.