INDIA MAY SIGN ANTI-TANK AMMUNITION SUPPLY CONTRACT WITH RUSSIA

The Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) is likely to sign a contract with Russia for the delivery of several thousands of anti-tank shells, to address the severe shortage of critical ammunition faced by the national army’s armoured vehicle fleet. Unnamed defence ministry officials were quoted by Press Trust of India as saying that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has recently cleared the proposal to acquire a total of 66,000 Mango anti-tank shells from Russia. The deal will also include the transfer of technology on the production techniques of the specialised tank ammunition to the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) to facilitate indigenous production, the sources added. The clearance follows a letter sent by the former army chief General V.K. Singh to the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, pointing that only three to four days of tank ammunition was left in the inventory of the armoured regiments.