Howitzer purchase: MoD sets up panel

Sources said the committee headed by Saraswat will look into the trial reports of the gun and recommend whether to go forward with the purchase.

While the Army has already conveyed that the deviations from desired specifications are not very significant,the ministry has appointed the committee to get an independent view.

The panels recommendation,expected shortly,is likely to be positive and will be forwarded to the Defence Acquisition Council that will decide on the procurement.

The procurement of 145 howitzers for an estimated 650 million through the Foreign Military Sales FMS route from the US got complicated due to a parallel acquisition process of 2009 that was stalled by the defence ministry after Singapore Technologies ST came under the scanner in the Ordnance Factory Board scam.

ST,which is under a CBI probe,obtained a stay from the Delhi High Court on the tender,contending that the purchase cannot be made as there is no evidence of wrongdoing.

Following this,the ministry decided to go in for a direct government-to-government contract with the US to purchase the guns. As reported,the Army is planning to raise a new Corps in Arunachal Pradesh to ramp up its presence.

The Army is optimistic of inking an agreement to ink the FMS purchase by this year-end.