Battle lines are drawn for the $ 4 billion tender for 1,580 155mm, 52 calibre towed artillery guns for the Indian Army. As the April 28 deadline for the submission of bids approaches, it appears that local partnerships could be the key to success in the competition.

BAE Systems, or erstwhile Bofors, the frontrunner in each of the three previous tenders which were scrapped over the last decade, set the trend for the competition by announcing Mahindra as their local partner last year.

With rivals in successive abortive rounds – South African Denel, Israeli Soltam Systems and Singaporean ST Kinetics – falling by the wayside on the slippery street that is the Indian arms bazaar, competition finally seems to be emerging for BAE. And the competition, too, is using Indian industry as handmaidens, following the lead.

French Nexter has tied up with the Larsen & Toubro as its subcontractor for the bid. And the market is abuzz with reports of Israeli Elta (a division of IAI) being in partnership with Bharat Forge. Local partners could not only emerge as the primary subcontractors to fulfil the 30 per cent offsets requirement, but they would also provide the edge to the respective bids by bringing in the local lobby factor.

The rest of the field includes South Korean Samsung Techwin, Russian Rosoboronexport and German Rheinmetall.

Because of the background of the 1980s, there are political sensitivities related to deal-making over artillery guns in India. Ever since it acquired Bofors legatee SWS Defence, BAE Systems has been working overtime to water down the origins of the FH-77 howitzer that it’s likely to field for the fourth time. Despite doing well in the trials, it was unsuccessful in the last two rounds in convincing political opinion that Bofors does not exist.

Some others may be walking over thin ice as well. Both Elta and Rheinmetall are likely to face allegations that they’re a proxy for black-listed guns.

The big positive, of course, is that the Indian Army and Ministry of Defence have a much wider choice.

The project involves ‘Buy’ and ‘Make’ phases. The ‘Buy’ phase involves the first 400 guns, which are to be delivered within six years of the contract. And the ‘Make’ phase involves production of 1,180 guns by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) under transfer of technology. The timeline requires the first 40 guns to be delivered within two years of the contract.

The Indian Army is keeping its fingers crossed, as the process for acquiring the first new artillery gun since 1986 is set to roll for the fourth time. “The cost of acquiring these guns has more than doubled since the time we first set about acquiring these a decade ago. The political leadership must show commitment to fulfilling this critical requirement in a definite time frame. They must share a sense of urgency and keep the process clean,” a senior Army officer said.

The parallel processes to acquire 180 wheeled self-propelled guns and 146 ultra-light howitzers are also underway. In January, Army Chief General V.K. Singh had expressed the hope that the first lot of new guns would be inducted this year.

But the road ahead is slippery. Drama and arms bazaar intrigue erupted in the evaluation process for the ultra-light howitzer, with the trial report getting leaked and reports of “threats” to the Army Chief over the deal becoming public. This has cast uncertainty over the acquisition of BAE Systems M777 through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route, which at one stage looked a certainty. This could be an indication that the road will be treacherous for the towed gun competition, where the stakes are much higher. With the starting gun set to go off on April 28, the ball will be set rolling and the games may well begin.