India K9 Vajra-T Third Batch (300+ Units) Acceptance of Necessity

India's Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, accorded Acceptance of Necessity on October 26, 2026 for a tracked self-propelled gun system covering more than 300 additional K9 Vajra-T 155mm/52-calibre howitzers, part of a Rs 2.12 lakh crore (~KRW 29.5 trillion) package of capital acquisition proposals for the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Ministry of Defence statement did not specify the quantity or cost; Indian press reports put the batch at 300 to 335 guns worth over Rs 20,000 crore (~KRW 2.8 trillion, ~$2 billion), to be built by Larsen & Toubro under the Make-in-India route with a target of more than 70 percent indigenous content, with production expected at L&T's Hazira plant in Gujarat. India ordered 100 K9 Vajra-T in 2017 (Rs 4,500 crore) and a second 100 in December 2024; the new batch would lift cumulative orders above 500. Hanwha Aerospace said a contract still requires bidding, technical evaluation, field trials and commercial negotiations, and large programs also need Cabinet Committee on Security approval. The Army deployed a full regiment of winterised K9 Vajra in eastern Ladakh after the 2020 standoff with China, and the new guns may include high-altitude winterisation kits. Value is an estimate from press reports.