K9 Vajra howitzers are manufactured by Indian company Larsen & Tourbo. The Indian Army has five K9 Vajra regiments. There are 100 Vajras with the Army, 20 for each regiment

New Delhi: The induction of K9 howitzer. manufactured by Larsen and Toubro has proven itself to be a big ‘Atmanirbharta’ or self-reliance commitment of the Indian defence sector. However, after the first 100 Vajra guns, the purchase of an additional 100 will again be discussed at the next high-level Defence Procurement Board meeting chaired by the defence secretary, Ajoy Kumar.

Apart from Kumar, the meeting will include the three vice-chiefs of the armed forces and a senior representative of the Defence Research and Development Organisation.

A hundred guns is enough for 5 regiments of the artillery and since there is a likeliness of a repeat order, no trials are required. The deal will be valued at Rs 5,500 crore.

Other than that, several deals, all indigenous, are on the agenda. They include 6,400 guided extended range rockets of the Pinaka rocket launchers and successor air defence guns for the Army.

Air Defence Guns

The rocket launchers project worth Rs 6,000 crores will be divided between Explosive Economics Ltd and the government-owned Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). Whoever is L1 or cheaper, after conforming to accepted standards, will get 60 per cent of the deal and the firm that is L2 will get 40 percent of the deal. Explosive Economics, a Nagpur based firm, has already supplied hand grenades to the Army.

The project for the successor Air Defence Guns for the Army initially was about buying some and making the rest. Now, 220 guns will be made in India. About 140,000 rounds of ammunition are also being procured.