Procurement of howitzers hit by cost issues

The procurement of 145 ultra-light howitzers for the Army "has not progressed" due to issues over cost of the deal and offsets requirements, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley told the Lok Sabha today.
India and the US have been discussing the deal for the last several years to induct the howitzers in the Army, which has not inducted even a single artillery gun for the last 25 years.
"The case for procurement of the ULH guns through the US government has not progressed due to cost issues and because the vendor has not been able to come up with a proposal fully compliant to the offset requirements," the Defence Minister said in reply to a written query.

The guns were planned to be bought from the US for deployment in high altitude frontiers along with China and Pakistan and were also expected to be part of the newly-raised 17 Mountain Strike Corps of the Army.
The last Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) held in February had asked the Army to review the plan in view of the increased price of the deal as the equipment manufacturers have hiked the cost of the proposed contract.
The offsets proposal offered by the US firm is also not in line with the Defence Procurement Procedure.
The Army has been waiting for induction of a new artillery gun since 1980s after the Bofors gun scandal.

The Ordnance Factory Board and the DRDO are also working towards developing indigenous guns for meeting the requirements of the Army.