New Delhi, Sep 13: Government has scrapped an army tender worth a whopping over Rs 4,600 crore to procure 180 self-propelled howitzers, the fourth such cancellation, and initiated a fresh process in this regard.
The tender, which was issued about two years back, was cancelled recently following complaints of snag in the guns of one of the two companies in the race for the deal, sources said here today.
This is the fourth time that the tender for procuring wheeled self-propelled howitzers has been cancelled in the last few years.
The two companies in the race included Konstrukta of Slovakia and Rheinmetall of Germany. After the cancellation of the tender, the Army has initiated a fresh process to procure the guns and issued a global request for Information (RFI) in this regard late last month.
The Artillery directorate has specified its various requirements in the RFI for the howitzers and is expected to issue a global tender in this regard in next few months.
Companies which are likely to respond to the RFI include BAE Systems, Rheinmetall Germany and Nexter of France.
After the induction of the controversial Bofors guns in the 80s, India has not been able to procure a single piece of artillery even after several attempts in this regard. Several tenders have been issued and cancelled due to on reason or the other.
The Defence Ministry had recently cleared the procurement of 145 Ultra Light Howitzers from the US under Foreign Military Sales route but that deal is also yet to be sealed.
Under its Artillery modernisation plan, the Army is planning to spend more than Rs 20,000 crore for inducting howitzers of different types.
