General Naravane is monitoring the induction and operation of the guns produced by Larsen & Toubro at its Hazira facility near Surat in Gujarat. The Army had not inducted any new heavy artillery since 1986 after the Bofors scandal rattled the nation. The K-9 Vajra is an indigenized version of the basic K-9 Thunder of South Korea

New Delhi: An alert and prepared Indian Army has deployed three of its K-9 Vajra howitzers in the high-altitude Ladakh region, a territory that’s under heavy deployment of troops due to a belligerent China advancing towards Indian mainland.

Indian Army chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane inducted the last unit of the 100 K-9 Vajra guns ordered by India and three of those guns reached Leh on Wednesday.

They have now been transported to the high-altitude base to be tested if the weapons can be used in such conditions, top government sources told news agency ANI.

Based on how the guns perform, the Indian Army will consider whether or not to place orders for two-three additional units of the self-propelled howitzers for high-altitude operations.

General Naravane is monitoring the induction and operation of the guns produced by Larsen & Toubro at its Hazira facility near Surat in Gujarat.

The Army placed orders for 100 guns from a South Korean defence manufacturing firm and has been inducting these units over the past two years into various regiments.

The K-9 Vajra is an indigenized version of the basic K-9 Thunder of South Korea.

The self-propelled howitzers have a range of 38 kilometres and are manufactured by Larsen & Toubro in partnership with the South Korean company.

The Army had not inducted any new heavy artillery since 1986 after the Bofors scandal rattled the nation.

With the induction of the Vajras, Dhanush and M777 ultra-light howitzers, the Army is inducting new arsenal into its inventory.

The next ‘Made in India’ howitzer that’s likely to be inducted would be the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)-developed Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) system.