The 37 percent escalation by a margin of roughly INR 1,200 crore for the US government offer to India for 145 M-777 light weight howitzers comes into effect on Tuesday, along with the imminent closure of the assembly line for the artillery.
The failure to consider the order by the DAC has wider implications as it is unlikely that any decision can be taken on this order by October 15, after which the value of the deal will see a 37 percent hike.
In purely dollar terms, the new price represents a 37 percent hike in the cost of the offer to India, but would effectively be even higher given the fall in the value of the rupee against the dollar since 2010.
Dean McCumiskey, Managing Director and Chief Executive of BAE Systems’ India operations told StratPost his company would be open to discussing any question of technical assistance the OFB might require, in its attempt to execute the designs and technology documentation transferred to it as part of the old Bofors howitzer procurement.
The arms company has contradicted the basis of the CAG audit, saying it signed a Memorandum of Understanding on offsets and collaborated production with the Ordnance Factory Board.
The Indian Army has issued a Request For Information (RFI) for towed artillery guns, effectively canceling the previous process for procurement of these weapons systems, in which BAE Systems was fielding the FH77 B05 against Singapore Technologies (ST) Kinetics’ iFH 2000.
The upgraded avatar is being displayed at the DefExpo in New Delhi.
