Army chief to visit US next week; howitzer deal to figure in talks

(TmesofIndia) :NEW DELHI: Army chief General V.K Singh will be visiting the US next week to further enhance the already robust bilateral military ties between the two countries.

During the six-day visit, the Indian Army's proposed procurement of 145 M-777 ultra-light howitzers, which Indioa is to buy from the US in a direct government-to-government deal worth $647 million, will figure high on the agenda.

The Indian armed forces also want to engage more deeply with US military's Central Command (Centcom), which oversees the crucial Af-Pak and Iraq-Iran regions, rather than being just restricted to ties with the Pacfic Command (Pacom), which looks after the Asia-Pacific region.

The Army, of course, wants to get rid of its long-festering Bofors ghost by inducting the M-777 guns, which will be its first-ever acquisition of 155mm howitzers since the infamous scandal in the mid-1980s completely derailed its artillery modernisation plan.

But, as reported earlier, the induction plan has been hit by some controversies. For one, the M-777 howitzers, manufactured by BAE systems (which now owns the original Bofors company), did not apparently do too well in the trials conducted at the Pokhran field firing ranges and high-altitude areas in Sikkim in November-December. For another, the field evaluation report of the trials conducted by the Army had "leaked'' to outside parties.