M777 regiment to get 3 made-inindia guns

locally in collaboration with Mahindra Defence Systems Limited under the Modi government’s Make in India initiative.

Of the 18 howitzers with which the army is raising its first regiment, 15 are being supplied by BAE Systems and three by its Indian partner Mahindra Defence, said the second official, also on condition of anonymity.

A spokesperson for Mahindra Defence declined to comment.

“The parallel induction of imported howitzers and the locally assembled ones serves the army’s interests. The rate of production will be higher and delivery faster under such an arrangement. Also, if there are any issues with the howitzers, the army can quickly reach out to the original equipment manufacturer and the Indian partner,” said Lieutenant General Subrata Saha (retd), who was the army’s deputy chief when the M777 deal was inked three years ago. The army is likely to get all the 145 howitzers by the end of 2021.

Saha also said that the M777s were an important part of the army’s field artillery rationalisation plan (FARP) as the guns were designed for flexible deployment in mountainous terrain.

The 155 mm/39-caliber howitzers can be sling-loaded to Boeing CH-47F (I) Chinook helicopters and swiftly deployed to highaltitude areas to provide accurate artillery fire support. India ordered 15 Chinook helicopters from the US for $1.18 billion in September 2015. Six of them have already been delivered.

The army is preparing to deploy its new M777s in eastern Arunachal Pradesh and the howitzers could prove to be a gamechanger in the sector due to their tactical mobility, as reported by HT on October 7.

The howitzers have a range of 24-30 km.

The ~50,000-crore FARP lays down the road map for inducting new 155mm weaponry, including tracked self-propelled guns, truck-mounted gun systems, towed artillery pieces and wheeled self-propelled guns. The plan seeks to equip 169 artillery regiments with a mix of nearly 3,000 guns over the next eight to 10 years.

The M777s were the first artillery guns to be ordered after the Bofors scandal unfolded in the late 1980s. These howitzers have superior tactical mobility as they are made from titanium and aluminum alloys and weigh only 4,218 kg, which is half the weight of conventional artillery guns deployed in the northern and eastern sectors.

Apart from the M777s, some of the other Make in India projects include local production of AK-203 assault rifles and K9 VAJRA-T artillery guns. structure development, construction of hotels and resorts and farming has taken a heavy toll on the mangroves. The mangrove cover has depleted over the years. Of late because of the intervention of the national green tribunal and courts this has come down a bit. A few construction activities were also stalled as they were violating the coastal regulation zone rules,” said Subhash Acharya, former joint director of the Sunderban Development Board.

According to the Forest Survey of India’s State of Forest Reports, which are published every two years, the very dense mangrove cover, which actually acts as the barrier against such storms, has shrunk from 1,038 sqkm in 2011 to 999 sqkm in 2017 (the latest report). Similarly, moderately dense forest cover has shrunk from 881 sqkm to 692 sqkm during the same period.

It is only the open mangrove cover that has increased marginally -- because of plantation and natural regeneration of mangrove on some islands. Between 2015 and 2017, only around eight sqkm of mangrove has been added.

“The mangrove has saved us. The forest department and the gram panchayats and the Sunderban affairs department have been planting mangrove trees extensively on the island and the river’s embankments. The mangrove (cover) is now increasing,” said Manturam Pakhira, Sunderban affairs minister.

Mumbai’s mangroves, spread across 8,000 hectares (6,400 hectares of government land and 1,600 hectares of private land), too, have been under threat from real estate development and infrastructure projects despite being the first line of defence against storms and increasing sea level.

In 2019 alone, Mumbai has witnessed 75 cases of mangrove destruction. While 14 people were arrested and let out on bail, not a single conviction has been recorded so far. The destruction of mangroves was banned by the Bombay high court through an order on September 18, 2018, and all government agencies and private companies have been directed to hand over mangrove land to the forest department for better protection.