By Lt. General P.C. Katoch (Retd) Former Director General of Information Systems, Indian Army

K9 Vajra-T is an indigenized version of the Samsung mobile howitzer, which is the maiden artillery gun venture of India's private sector. The K9 Vajra-T (155-mm/52-caliber self-propelled howitzer) co-developed by Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Samsung Techwin recently cleared the evaluation trials of the MoD in a global competition. Significantly, the K9 Vajra-T was the only entry that qualified in the evaluation trials. The K9 is a South Korean system whose steel armour construction can withstand 14.5 mm armour piercing rounds, 152 mm shell fragments, and anti-personnel mines. The main armament consists of a 155 mm/52 caliber ordnance with a maximum firing range of 40 kms. Equipped with a 1,000 horsepower engine, the howitzer offers greater mobility, longer range, higher rate of fire, and increased battlefield survivability, as it can quickly be brought into action, open fire, and come out of action — greater survivability with ability of 'shoot and scoot'. In June 2016, South Korea revealed they were designing a new fully automatic projectile-and-charge loading system that will be retrofitted to the K9, essentially giving it a robotic turret. The purpose is to reduce the crew needed to operate the vehicle to two in order to mitigate personnel losses during conflict. The K9 has the ability to fire ammunition in the MRSI mode; multiple rounds simultaneous impact — firing three shells in less than 15 seconds that hit the target at the same time. The South Korean Army receives its first batch of K9 howitzers in 1999 and were used in operations during 2010 when North Korea resorted to bombarding South Korea. South Korea has exported the K9 has exported to Turkey. In July 2016, Finland's Ministry of Defence announced that undisclosed number of used K9's have been selected to be acquired from South Korea. The K9 Vajra-T (a variant of K9) being procured by India can move at speeds of over 60 km per hour, can be used at different points in a battlefield, delivering a punishing eight rounds a minute into enemy territory. It can traverse up to 450 km on its own self-propelled power, giving it high degree force multiplier ability.

In September 2015, L&T emerged as the finalist for the US$800 million (between Rs 4500 to Rs 5000 crores) contract to supply 100 x K9 Vajra-T self-propelled howitzers to the Indian Army. Interestingly, Tatas, the OFB and the BEML had also bid for the request for proposal (RFP) issued in January 2011. OFB's entry was an upgraded version of the Russian MSTA-S SP gun. However, it was L&Ts K9 Vajra-T (modified Samsung's K9) that emerged winner. The K9 Vajra-T is specially suited for operation in the plains and desert sectors bordering Pakistan. Although the bids were made under the 'Buy Global' provision of the DPP, the K9 Vajra-T howitzer will be made at L&Ts Talegaon plant near Pune. About 50% of the gun is planned to be indigenized by L&T in India, including the fabrication and machining of the hull and turret structure and 14 indigenously developed sub-systems. Under the contract to be signed with L&T, the first 10 guns are to be supplied by L&T to the Army within 18 months of signing, with the balance 90 guns to be supplied in the next two years. The contact also has a follow-up option clause of 50 additional K9 Vajra-T guns to be supplied, in addition to the 100 contracted. The development is significant on a number of counts, like: L&T won the contract floated at global level; it is the first instance that the private sector will manufacture an artillery howitzer to the Indian Army; it will contribute to bridge the critical artillery shortages of the Army; indigenous manufacture will save the army looking for lifecycle support outside India, and; it establishes a new benchmark for 'Make in India'. At the moment it is unclear as to what proportion of components and sub-systems of the K9 Vajra-T would be manufactured indigenously or in South Korea. There is also speculation whether with the assured purchase of only 100 x K9 Vajra-T it would be financially wise to manufacture the turrets also in India. But then Prime Minister Modi's 'Make in India' call was also qualified with "sell anywhere", which opens the doors for exports. This apart, under the Army's Field Artillery Rationalization Plan, all existing field guns are to be replaced with a variety 155mm/.52-caliber guns; buying a mix of around 3,600 x 155mm/.52-caliber guns by 2020-2025 costing around US$ 6 billion. Indigenous development of the K9 Vajra-T therefore appears a winner from all angles.

Photo Credit: L&T Heavy Engineering