Big boost for artillery: Army likely to order 300 more K9 Vajra SPGs

The Army is expected to bid an further 300 K9 Vajra self-propelled guns (SPGs) for the Regiment of Artillery.If executed, this would beryllium the army’s largest bid for the platform.The service presently operates 100 K9s and has already placed an bid for different 100. An artillery regiment fields 18 guns, with 2 further guns held arsenic war-wastage reserves, truthful this procurement would let the service to equip astir 25 regiments with the K9.Under the tract artillery rationalisation plan, the service had initially planned to get lone 100 tracked SPGs and 180 wheeled SPGs.The K9 was primitively procured to enactment onslaught formations intended to beforehand rapidly crossed force territory successful plains and deserts.After the Galwan clashes and the consequent standoff with China, the service deployed these guns to the high-altitude situation of eastbound Ladakh adjacent the Line of Actual Control. The level has been modified to run successful those frigid conditions.The K9 combines mobility, firepower and extortion to beryllium an effectual and survivable platform. Its shoot-and-scoot capableness allows it to occurrence wrong 30 seconds and reposition successful nether a minute, minimising vulnerability to counter-battery fire.

Armed with a 155 mm/52-calibre weapon and a semi-automatic loading system, it tin present a three-round burst successful 15 seconds. Using NATO-standard ammunition it reaches ranges up to 40 km; extended-range and rocket-assisted projectiles propulsion that to astir 54 km.Its precocious fire-control strategy enables Multiple Round Simultaneous Impact (MRSI), successful which rounds fired astatine antithetic trajectories deed the people astatine the aforesaid time.The K9 is successful work with 9 different countries too India and South Korea. The strategy operates from the frigid tundra supra the Arctic Circle successful Finland to the deserts of Egypt and Australia, demonstrating its reliability crossed divers environments.The K9 Vajra was designed and developed by South Korea’s Hanwha Defense and is assembled successful India astatine Larsen & Toubro’s Hazira plant. The level integrates 14 large domestically produced components, including the fire-control system, communications gear, NBC extortion and the gunner’s superior sight. Nearly 50% of the gun’s components, by value, are sourced from India.