Vajra hits target during Pokhran test

On Thursday, Army successfully test fired from indigenous advanced gun K9-Vajra-T (long range) which hit the target at Pokhran field firing range in Jaisalmer. The gun has a range to fire up to 40-50km.

On Thursday, 6 rounds were fired successfully from the Howitzer after the 13 modifications were done in the gun. Senior officers of army and L&T were present during the trial. The gun developed and built by developed by Larsen and Toubro (L&T). The gun has detection advanced system of chemical & nuclear weapon which has GPS and navigation system and automatic MO loading system.

The howitzer is specially designed for arid lands such as the desert areas western bordering Pakistan. Artillery of Indian army will soon get total 100 indigenous gun K9 Vajra-T(Thunder) 155mm/52 calibre to deal with new challenges it get from china and Pakistan. The fire power capability will improve more from the howitzer. Till now Indian Army receive 10 guns and soon Indian Army will get balance 90 guns, According to the official sources, the latest advanced version K9 VAJRA-T 155mm/ 52 calibre hit target in Pokharan field firing range in the presence of Army and L&T officials. Trials were done and it will undergo more trials in upcoming days.

The ‘Vajra’, a 155 mm howitzer was ordered by the Indian Army in April 2017 after a global competition that was won by Larsen and Toubro. The guns are being made in India with a partnership with Hanwha Techwin of South Korea with an initial order of 100 that is valued at Rs. 4500 crore which is to be supplied to the Indian army in 42 months. The gun will be deployed along the western border to take on a Pakistani battlefield edge in mobile artillery. The weight of howitzer is about 45 Ton. The speed of gun movement is 60-70km/ hour. A manufacturing unit is being set up at Hajiza Gujrat and 10 guns have already been delivered in last 10 months to Indian Army.

Source said K-9 Vajra-T tracked self-propelled howitzer meets the requirements of 21st-century warfare. The howitzer is capable of proving deep fire support with its longer firing range, has qualitative superiority to overcome a numerical inferiority with its higher rate of fire and accuracy along with effective and reliable fire support in all kinds of circumstances with its higher mobility and protection. 13 Modifications more has been done seeing the requirement of Indian Army. There is special system known as MRSI (Multiple round simultaneous impact) which fire 3 round in 15 seconds.

Source said it is specially designed for arid lands such as the desert areas bordering Pakistan. Mounted on a tracked vehicle, the K-9 Vajra is ideally suited for mobile tank warfare. This howitzer could be induct into its mechanized strike corps to offer close fire support during deep thrusts into enemy territory. With the howitzer a vehicle carry with it. Vehicle is known as KT-10 (Automatic Re-ammunition Supply Van) whose as capacity of 104 round.

Source said K9 VAJRA-T is a variant of the South Korean K9 Thunder which is considered to be the world's best 155mm/52 calibre self propelled howitzer in terms of the number of systems in active service.

 timesofindia