New Delhi, February 11, 2006 (IANS)

The government has for the first time invited an Indian company and at least two more foreign firms to upgrade the army's entire complement of over 360 Bofors artillery guns for $400 million.

The request for proposals dispatched to a company of the Mumbai-based Tata group, El Bit of Israel and British BAE Systems, which now owns Bofors, requires them to present the upgraded gun for field trials by the year end.

India acquired the FH77B 155mm, 39 calibre guns from the now defunct Swedish firm of AB Bofors in 1987. They will be upgraded to 45 calibre ones. The upgraded howitzers will have an enhanced range. This will be achieved by replacing the barrel and breechblock and strengthening the under carriage.

The Tata group is hopeful of working with India's state-owned Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) which, according to the original $1.4 billion deal with Bofors - later SWS Defense AB - was to build the guns under licence at its Kanpur unit.

But OFB, to which all the howitzer blueprints and technical details were transferred, never exercised the option as the howitzer import was mired in a corruption scandal.

"We want to collaborate with OFB to make the upgrade a success by an Indian company," said a senior official from the Strategic Electronics Division of the Tata group.

The Tatas are one of around 15 Indian companies granted a licence two years ago by the defence ministry to build military equipment as part of efforts to enhance indigenous military capability through privatisation.

The Tatas and Mumbai-based Larsen and Toubro are the first private manufacturers to be jointly awarded a major defence contract - the Rs 50 billion deal to develop the launcher, fire control system and guidance electronics for the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher. They will build 20 launchers apiece.

"For the howitzer upgrade, we plan to capitalise on the ballistic experience acquired in developing the Pinaka," Rahul Chowdhry, head of Tata's Strategic Electronics Division, said.

Under its interminably delayed "Field Artillery Rationalisation Plan", the Indian Army proposes to configure its artillery profile around the upgraded 155mm guns and 180 pieces of the 130mm M-46 field gun upgraded by Israel's Soltam to 155mm.

In addition, the artillery will acquire up to 1,400 155mm-52 calibre towed, wheeled and tracked self-propelled howitzers. A fresh round of howitzer trials is expected later in the summer after the army revises its qualitative requirements and invites overseas vendors.

Three rounds of trials in as many years to buy 180 towed howitzers - which involved South Africa's Denel, Soltam and SWS - were inconclusive. The trials ended in late 2004.