US agrees to equip Indian Navy warships with heavy guns urgently

At a time when India and China are engaged in a border dispute, the American Navy has agreed to urgently equip Indian Navy warships with its own naval guns to help India be better prepared for a conflict in the earliest possible time frame. The two sides are moving ahead with a plan to take three American Navy inventory medium caliber guns and put them on the Indian warships of large size to use them in both anti-ship and anti-aircraft roles, top government sources told India Today. The 127 mm medium caliber guns are produced by the American BAE systems and the countries are discussing a $600 million deal to buy 11 such weapons systems. India has issued a Letter of Request to the US government for acquiring 11.127 mm medium caliber guns which are to be equipped on the large-size warships of the Indian Navy including the Visakhapatnam-class destroyers. As per the new plan, the LoR issued to the American administration and the first three guns to be provided to the Indian Navy would be from the American Navy inventory so that the Indian warships are fully equipped at the earliest. Once the production of the new guns starts in America and they are ready to be delivered, the American Navy guns on Indian warships would be replaced by fresh ones. The medium caliber guns would be a new entry into the Indian Navy and would be an upgrade on the existing weapons of similar class in the maritime force. The Indian Navy has developed a very close working relationship with its American counterpart as majority of the new acquisitions of the force are coming from the US only.The Russian equipment in the force including the surveillance planes have been replaced by the P-8I aircraft. The multirole helicopters are also coming from the US as the SeaKing choppers would be replaced by the MH-60 Romeos. The American Predator drones have also been leased by the Navy from the American firm General Atomics and more such unmanned systems are expected to come as part of a triaervice deal between the two sides.///indiatoday