Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, who visited Gujarat, flagged off the 51st K-9 Vraj-T cannon on Thursday at the Larsen and Toubro armored system complex in Hazira, Surat. Defense Minister Singh also rode over the cannon and drove it around the Hazira complex. Larsen and Toubro also showed the Defense Minister various demonstrations of the K-9 Vajra-T cannon's firepower. During the program, Rajnath Singh made a swastika mark on the cannon and broke a coconut.
The Defense Minister also made a swastika mark on the cannon.The weight of this cannon is 50 tons and it can fire 47 kg shells up to a distance of 43 kilometers. This automatic cannon can also rotate at zero radius. The Ministry of Defense had signed a Rs 4,500 crore agreement to supply 100 units of K9 Vajra-T 155 mm / 52 caliber cannons to the L&T Company in 2017 for the Indian Army under the Center's 'Make in India' initiative.
This is the biggest deal given by the Ministry to a private company under which 100 units of these guns are to be supplied in 42 months. The defense minister applied a tilak on the cannon and made a 'swastik' mark from Kumkum. During the puja, he also offered flowers on the cannon and also boiled coconut. L&T, along with South Korea's Hanwa Techwin, is making this cannon at the Hazira plant in Gujarat.
More than 50% ingredients are native
These 'Dago and Bhago' style cannons will be deployed along the western border to gain an edge in the Pakistani war zone in terms of mobile artillery guns. In 2009, the US gave 115 M 109A5 cannons to Pakistan to assist during the war on the Afghanistan border. Vajra will compete with these guns of Pakistan on the border.
Although Vajra is made in collaboration with a South Korean company, more than 50% of the ingredients in it are native. The army can order a large number of these guns. Apart from this, the option of its export can also be considered. This order is also special because no Indian company was given any special exemption, despite this, L&T won it by bidding against a Russian company in a global competition.
