Army to get firepower boost in mountains with more M777 guns

The Indian Army is set to scale up its capabilities with more M777 ultra-light howitzers that can be swiftly deployed and redeployed in mountains, amid the ongoing border row with China in Ladakh, people familiar with the developments said on Sunday. "The army will receive 56 more M777 guns by June 2022. As of now, 89 howitzers have been delivered," said one of the persons cited above. The army has deployed M777s in Ladakh, where India and China have been locked in a border row for over 18 months, and also in Arunachal Pradesh across which the Chinese People's Liberation Army has stepped up its activities. M777 manufacturer BAE Systems has delivered 25 ready-built howitzers and the remaining guns have been/are being built locally in collaboration with Mahindra Defence under the Modi government's Make in India initiative. The M777 order in 2016 was the first contract for artillery guns in almost 30 years after the Bofors scandal erupted in the late 1980s. Apart from M777s, the army has also deployed the K9 Vajra-T self-propelled artillery guns and the 155 mm FH 77 BO2 guns in the Ladakh sector. The guns were meant to be deployed in the plains, but the army has carried out some minor changes to deploy them in high altitude.