100th K-9 Howitzer for Indian Army Flagged off

The Indian Army today flagged off the 100th K-9 Vajra-T self-propelled artillery gun built by India in cooperation with South Korea.

“General MM Naravane, Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army (COAS) flagged off the 100th K-9 Vajra-T during his visit to Larsen & Toubro Defence in Surat. Larsen & Toubro has supplied 100 units of indigenously made K-9 Vajra-T 155 mm/ 52 calibre self-propelled guns to the Indian Army,” the service tweeted today.

L&T had in 2017 won the INR 4,500 crore (~600 million) contract from the Ministry of Defence to supply 100 units of K9 Vajra-T 155 mm/52 calibre tracked self-propelled gun systems to the Indian Army under the Indian government’s "Make in India" initiative.

The manufacturing complex is executing the "K9 Vajra-T 155 mm/52-caliber tracked self-propelled Howitzer guns" programme. The K9 Vajra contract involves delivery of 100 such systems in 42 months, which is the largest contract awarded to a private company by the MoD.

L&T had signed a transfer of technology contract for guns with South Korean company Hanwha Defence.

According to L&T information, the K9 VAJRA-T is a variant of K9 Thunder which is serving as one of the main conventional deterrent forces in the South Korean Army. K9 Thunder has established its superiority through demonstrations and evaluation tests at various proving grounds in extreme weather conditions, jungles, barren deserts and severely cold areas.

By demonstrating its ability to handle Indian as well as all NATO standard ammunitions, K9 VAJRA-T has proven its excellent conformability to any field artillery unit.

The company has set up the Armoured Systems Complex at Hazira, around 30km from Surat, to manufacture and integrate advanced armoured platforms, such as self-propelled artillery Howitzers, future infantry combat vehicles, future-ready combat vehicles and future main battle tanks.