BACK TO BUSINESS WITH BOFORS 

New Delhi, July 1 :     Desperate to keep its artillery backbone in shape, India has begun talks with Celsius Corporation, manufacturers of the Bofors howitzers, and is trying to negotiate a deal on new guns with enhanced range, spare parts and shells. This is the first official exchange with the blacklisted firm after more than a decade. Successive governments had shied away from entering into any negotiations with the company for fear of adverse political impact. The discussions with the Swedish firm had begun at an informal level even before the Cabinet Committee on Security gave the formal go-ahead yesterday. Though the defence ministry is tight-lipped, Sweden is on the list of officials who are shopping abroad for equipment required by the army in Kargil. The 155-mm Bofors gun has a range of 35 km. In the rarefied atmosphere of mountainous Kargil, it can even hit targets within 42 km. But if India wants to strike deeper, like the Skardu brigade base in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir from where the entire Kargil offensive is being executed, it will require a gun with a 210-mm calibre. Pakistan has in its arsenal US-made guns of this range and is pounding Drass with them. Ever since the army operations began a month ago, the Bofors gun has proved irreplaceable. It has been hauled along slopes in the conflict zone and has been able to blast out intruders from their hideouts along ridgelines. But each shell, now being bought from suppliers in South Africa, costs nearly $1,000 or Rs 43,000 at the market rate and is a major drain on the exchequer. Troops fire several hundred, if not a few thousand, shells per day in the different sub-sectors of Kargil. But some defence sources insist that India is paying an ex-factory price of around $400 per shell to Denel, the South African company. Defence officials believe that if a deal can be clinched with the original manufacturers, Bofors shells can be bought cheaper and will be easier to procure. Besides, of the 400-odd guns that the army has, about 270 are functional. A number of them need either minor repairs or spares. Rocked by the Rs 64-crore kickback scandal in the gun deal, India did not enter into a full pact with the company, then known as Bofors AB. Such a contract would have given India technological knowhow to indigenously manufacture the guns, necessary spares and even shells. At least four types of shells can be used with the Bofors 155. Of them, the company had provided knowhow for three varieties: the high explosive group known as M-107, the 77B or extended range group and the HEER or high-explosive-cum-extended range group. But Bofors AB did not extend any knowledge on the anti-tank and anti-personnel 155-mm cargo shells. With Indian ordnance factories like the one in Bolangir failing to produce quality shells, the defence establishment has begun buying the shells from abroad.