India's Defence Acquisition Council clears more than 300 additional K9 Vajra-T howitzers, opening a ~$2 billion Hanwha follow-on

India's Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, accorded Acceptance of Necessity on October 26, 2026 to a tracked self-propelled gun system covering more than 300 additional K9 Vajra-T howitzers, the Indian-built 155mm/52-calibre version of the Hanwha Aerospace K9, as part of a Rs 2.12 lakh crore (~KRW 29.5 trillion) package for the Army, Navy and Air Force of which about 82 percent is to be sourced from Indian industry. The ministry statement gave no quantity or cost; ThePrint and Business Standard reported 300 to 335 guns at over Rs 20,000 crore (~KRW 2.8 trillion, ~$2 billion), to be built by Larsen & Toubro at Hazira with more than 70 percent indigenous content. India bought 100 K9 Vajra-T in 2017 and a second 100 in December 2024, so the new batch would take cumulative orders past 500. Hanwha said a contract still requires bidding, technical evaluation, field trials, commercial negotiations and Cabinet Committee on Security approval. The Army fielded a full regiment of winterised K9 Vajra in eastern Ladakh after the 2020 standoff with China, and the new guns may carry high-altitude winterisation kits. The same meeting cleared VSHORADS, counter-UAS systems, long-range kamikaze drones and 24 VVIP transport helicopters.