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For George the Bofors boomed!

And the Bofors gun boomed again. Right on target, right in front of Union Defence Minister George Fernandes.

The venue was the School of Artillery, Deolali, Maharashtra. And the occasion? Well, an exercise to show of the mighty howitzer.

The much-talked-about gun, incidentally, is deployed along Indian borders thanks to features like auto-loading, capability to fire from high and low angles, and precision.

At the firepower show -- Exercise Topchi -- the defence minister took a keen interest in the gun, discussing its capabilities with the School of Artillery Commandant Lieutenant General Madan Bhandari.

Firing the Bofors gun, known as the 155 mm field howitzer 77b, was the highlight of the show. Besides high-explosive shells, it also fires smoke, smoke infrared, and illuminating and special cargo shells.

Another highlight was the 22 mm grad bm21 multibarrel self-propelled rocket launcher. Mounted on a Ural truck, it can fire a salvo of 40 rockets in 20 seconds.

Fernandes also witnessed the 122 mm howitzer d-30, 130 mm field gun and mortar launchers in action.

UNI

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