Sources indicate that media reports that Denel has secured a R2,7-billion deal for artillery from India are premature.

No such deal, it seems, has yet been signed, although it is believed that negotiations are under way.

Denel itself is not commenting and is referring enquiries to the Indian group Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML), from where the story appears to have originated.

It is known that Denel has been marketing artillery to the Indian Army for some time.

The South African company produces G-5 towed and G-6 self-propelled 155 mm gun/howitzers and has developed upgraded versions of both.

It has also developed the T-5, which is basically a G-5 mounted, notably, on a BEML truck.

Furthermore, the state-owned South African group has developed a self-contained 155 mm gun and turret system for mounting on chassis other than that of the G-6.

The media reports stated that the Denel guns were to be fitted to India’s indigenously developed Arjun tanks, thus indicating that it is this 155 mm gun/turret system that is under consideration.

The idea would be to remove the existing guns and turrets from, reportedly, 100 Arjuns and replace them with the Denel systems.

The Arjun apparently has not been a success in its intended role and such a conversion would salvage some of the investment made by the Indians in the project, by giving a useful role to the vehicles.

Oddly, media reports claimed that unnammed defence experts had stated that such a hybrid development (putting a medium artillery piece on a tank chassis) had not succeeded anywhere in the world.

In fact, there is a long record of successfully adapting tank chassis to carry such artillery systems.