India's Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued a request for proposal (RFP) on 1 February for the procurement of 220 air defence (AD) towed guns and 141,576 rounds of ammunition for the Indian Army under the ‘Buy and Make (Indian)' category, along with providing training maintenance for the guns. This is the third RFP after it was first issued in October 2021.
The deadline for the application was later extended to 3 February 2022 in a tender reissued in December 2021. The latest RFP extends the deadline for submission of proposals from 3 February to 24 February 2022, indicating that the MoD may not have received proposals that meet the Indian Army's requirements.
According to the requirements mentioned in the RFP issued on 14 October, the gun should not weigh more than 7 tonnes in a firing position. It should be operated by a minimum crew of two and a maximum of four who can bring the gun into and out of action in under 10 minutes. The gun can be towed by ‘in-service' gun tractors with all-terrain mobility to include mountainous areas up to 4,500 m above mean sea level (SN8), plains, and deserts/semi-desert terrains, with an expected maximum speed of 50 km/h on metalled roads and 10 km/h in offroad conditions. The gun should also be able to operate between a minimum temperature of -20° to -10°C and a maximum temperature of 45° to 55°C. Transportability by rail, air, and sea with existing transporters is also a requirement.
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