Vajra during testing at Pokhran Field Firing Range on Thursday

JAISALMER: The Indian army, since Wednesday, has been successfully testing fire from indigenous advanced gun K9-Vajra-T (long range), which on Thursday, hit the target at Pokhran Field Firing Range in Jaisalmer district. The gun has a range to fire up to 40-50 km and trials will continue till Friday.

On Wednesday, six rounds were fired successfully from Howitzer and on Thursday, again six rounds were fired after the 13 modifications were done in the gun. Earlier, the trials were done in the same Pokhran Field Firing Range two weeks ago, on September 13 this year, and now again the trials have started. Senior officers of army and L&T were present during the trial.

The gun has been developed and built by manufacturer company Larsen and Toubro (L&T). The gun has an advanced system for detection of chemical & nuclear weapons, which has GPS and navigation system and automatic MO loading system.

The Howitzer is specially designed for arid lands such as the desert areas bordering Pakistan. Artillery of Indian army will soon get total 100 indigenous gun K9-Vajra-T (Thunder) 155mm/52 calibre, to deal with the new challenges posed by China and Pakistan. The fire power capability will improve more from the Howitzer. Till now, Indian army has received 10 guns and soon, it will get the balance 90 guns.

According to the official sources, the latest advanced version K9-Vajra-T 155mm/ 52 calibre, on Thursday hit the target in Pokhran Field Firing Range successfully, in the presence of army and L&T officials. The Vajra, a 155mm Howitzer, was ordered by the Indian army in April 2017, after a global competition was won by Larsen and Toubro. The guns are being made in India with a partnership with Hanwha Techwin of South Korea with an initial order of 100, which is valued at Rs 4500 crore, which is to be supplied to the Indian army in 42 months.

The gun will be deployed along the western border to give an edge over the Pakistani battlefield in mobile artillery. The weight of Howitzer is about 45 Tonnes. The speed of gun movement is 60-70 km/hour. A manufacturing unit is being set up at Hajiza, Gujarat and 10 guns have already been delivered in the last 10 months to Indian army.

Source said that K9-Vajra-T tracked self-propelled Howitzer, meets the requirements of 21st century warfare. The Howitzer is capable of proving deep fire support with its longer firing range, has qualitative superiority to overcome a numerical inferiority, with its higher rate of fire and accuracy, along with effective and reliable fire support in all kinds of circumstances, with its higher mobility and protection. There is special system known as MRSI (Multiple Round Simultaneous Impact) which fires three rounds in 15 seconds.

Mounted on a tracked vehicle, the K9-Vajra is ideally suited for mobile tank warfare. This Howitzer could be inducted into mechanised strike corps to offer close fire support during deep thrusts into enemy territory.

Source said K9-Vajra-T is a variant of the South Korean K9-Thunder, which is considered to be the world’s best 155mm/52 calibre self-propelled Howitzer, in terms of the number of systems in active service.