NEW DELHI: India has agreed a $560-million deal to buy 145 howitzer guns from BAE Systems of the United States as it upgrades its antiquated military hardware, an official said Saturday.
India is updating its military capabilities with hardware worth tens of billions of dollars in the face of long-standing tensions with regional rivals China and Pakistan.
"The contract for the ultra-light howitzers was awarded on Friday to BAE Systems Inc" of the United States, a unit of Britain-based BAE Systems Plc, a senior defence ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The government will spend 30 billion rupees ($560 million) on the field guns, the official said.
The howitzers, with a maximum range of 30 kilometres (17 miles), will be used by the army's mountain artillery divisions along India's high-altitude frontiers.
India has fought three wars with arch-rival Pakistan since independence in 1947, but China is increasingly seen as the main focus of its ambitious military modernisation and procurement policy.
The military is acquiring a slew of new equipment from combat aircraft to submarines and in March, the country announced military spending for the current financial year would total 1.93 trillion rupees ($40 billion).
Saturday's announced purchase marks the first time in more than a quarter of a century that India is buying howitzers.
India last purchased guns for the army in 1986 when it bought 410 howitzer field guns from the Swedish arms giant AB Bofors. (AFP)