Faulty ammo caused M777 gun explosion: Probe
NEW DELHI: A preliminary investigation has found that faulty ammunition was the reason behind the explosion on the Army’s new long-range ultralight (ULH) howitzer M -777 during a field trial in Pokh ran earlier this month, official sources said.
The barrel of the US-manufactured gun had exploded when it was firing Indian ammunition on September 2.
A preliminary inquiry has found that the explosion took place due to faulty ammunition supplied by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and further probe into the matter was on, the sources said.
Asked about the findings of the probe, OFB spokesperson Uddipan Mukherjee said, “Any such failure is attributable to a complex phenomena pertaining to internal ballistics as the shell move sat a very high speed inside the barrel.”
He said these kind of failures can have multiple causes and “the quality of the shell is not the only reason”.
Without specifically commenting on the findings of the probe, Mukherjee said ammunition usedintheM-777gunhadunder- gone the required quality tests before the testing.
India had received two M-777 ultra-light howitzers in May, each worth around ₹35 crore, after a gap of 30 years since the B of ors scandal broke out, and the accident took place in one of them.
The field trials of the 155 mm, 39- ca lib re guns manufactured by BA E systems were being carried out at Pokh ran in Ra j as than with an aim to collate various critical data like trajectory, speed and frequency.
Army sources had said the barrel of the gun was damaged in the explosion.
The Army had received the howitzers as part of an order for 145 guns.
Three more guns are to be supplied to the Army in September 2018 for training.
Thereafter, induction will commence from March 2019 onwards with five guns per month till the complete consignment is received by mid-2021.
India had last procured howitzers in the mid -1980 sf rom Swedish defence major Bofors.
Theallegedpay-offsinthedeal and its subsequent political ramifications had severely crippled the Indian Army’s procurement of artillery guns.