Purchase-time lapses hit Bofors Indian remake

Ajay Banerjee Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 20 Faced with a serious shortage of artillery guns for the Indian Army, the Ministry of Defence okayed a proposal of the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to produce the 155mm Bofors guns here, but now, it faces a serious problem - the metallurgy of the gun, especially its turret though which the ammunition is fired, is a mystery. While the OFB was given the task by the Defence Ministry a few weeks ago to produce a prototype of the Bofors gun, the real crisis is the turret, said sources. Within the ministrys establishment, everybody is banking on the assumption that the OFB can produce the gun from the original designs and drawings that it got from AB Bofors Sweden, however, sources in the know of matters said that it might not be easy. The original company did not actually carry out the transfer of technology for which India had paid. There had been no production in India ever of even a single part of the gun. All these years, the OFB has been sitting on the drawings and designs that they got from Bofors without attempting to make even a small part of it. The gun was supplied in the late 1980s and allegations of kickbacks had rocked the nation. All of a sudden, Bofors became a dirty word in the Indian defence establishment. The gun proved its worth during the Kargil conflict in 1999 when artillery gunners softened up the Pakistani defenders who occupied the ridge line. The ministry okayed the OFB plans as various attempts - six in the past two decades - to procure an artillery gun had come to a nought. The Army faces a serious shortage and in the absence of spares, guns are cannibalised to arrange for parts. It is not that the OFB has been asked to re-invent the same gun. It is just an attempt to re-produce it as the per the original design for which the OFB has been asked to come up with the prototype before the end of the next fiscal (March 2013). The OFB makes artillery guns of lower calibre than the 155 mm. It is still not clear from where the specialised technology for the gun turret will be made available. One line of thought within strategic circles is that the OFB could ask the current owner of the Bofors gun licence - the BaE Systems - for some help. The BaE has a tie-up with the Indian defence arm of Mahindra and Mahindra for producing defence equipment and has a plant at Faridabad. Actually, the two even showcased the Bofors at a defence exhibition at New Delhi in February 2010. Once the OFB prototype is ready, the Army will put the guns through field trials before any mass production is done. Meanwhile, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has embarked on its own project to have an indigenous artillery gun.

Badly handled
The Bofors gun was supplied by AB Bofors Sweden in the late 1980s

The company did not transfer the technology for which India had paid All these years, the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) has been sitting on the designs that they got without producing even a small part of it In the absence of spares, guns are cannibalised to arrange for parts The metallurgy of the gun is still a mystery to the OFB