India has deployed upgraded L70 anti-aircraft guns in the high mountains along the Line Of Actual Control (LAC) in Arunachal Pradesh sector in addition to its existing M-777 howitzers and the Swedish Bofors guns, officials said on Wednesday.
The deployment, which came months after induction of M-777 ultralight howitzers, is aimed at boosting the Indian Army’s overall firepower in the face of China’s aggressive posturing following the eastern Ladakh standoff, they said.
The upgraded L-70 guns were positioned around two months ago as part of a series of measures taken to bolster the Indian Army’s operational preparedness to deal with any eventualities, the officials said. India has a sizable number of Bofors howitzers in the eastern sector which have been the backbone of its fire power capability in the region.
Speaking of the upgraded L-70 air defense guns , captain Sariya Abbasi , an Air Defence Officer posted in the Tawang sector near the LAC , said this was their first deployment in high altitude areas across the country .Further , the use of modern proximity fuse ammunition had increased the hit probability of the gun , capt. Abbasi added.
The L-70 guns was manufactured by Swedish company Bofors AB in 1950s and India procured them the late 1960s . This legacy guns were upgraded by Bharat Electronics Limited(BEL).
