Re M-777 I can understand titanium forging requires extra heavy duty presses (>25,000 tonnes force). However machining and the associated recoil systems are well within the Indian mfg capability and should be transferred.
Can understand un-machined Ti barrel forgings being supplied from abroad.
Also its time OFB set up a heavy duty forging press (50,000 tonne) at HEC, Ranchi as a national resources.
Set up three (15,000 tonne) forging presses in OFB factories. Two for production and one for back up.
All the machinery to do this is already in India.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_Press_Program
Just for ref the effort in China
http://www.chinatechgadget.com/china-bu ... forge.html
In the December 2007, China has started the building of an 80,000-ton press forge (800MN heavy die forging press) in Deyang, the southwestern Sichuan Province, paving the way for making large planes, a longtime dream of the nation.
The project, with an investment of 1.517 billion yuan (204.7 million U.S. dollars), has won the approval of the National Development and Reform Commission and is expected to be the world’s largest when it is finished in two and a half years, said Zeng Xiangdong, project director and vice general manager of China National Erzhong Group Co. on Friday.
The 800MN heavy die forging press project has been started under the construction in China Erzhong. This will be the largest die forging press in the world located in China Erzhong . After this project is completed , it will tremendously increase production capacity in the fields of aviation, electrical power and petrochemical industry, and will also meet the requirement of heavy die & open forgings used for aviation, national defense and civil industries, especially for the large commercial aircrafts in China .
Besides, China Erzhong also has a 160MN hydraulic press which is designed, manufactured, installed and commissioned by China Erzhong itself is the world’s largest open forging hydraulic press with most advanced technology.
a 160MN hydraulic press
A large die-hydraulic press forge is one of the key instruments in making jumbo planes. Only a few countries, including the United States, Russia and France, have such facilities, according to Zeng.
The current largest press forge is 75,000-tons and is owned by Russia. All the press forges currently in China are below 40,000 tons, which are unfit for making key parts of very large planes and hence hinder the development of the aviation industry, equipment and manufacturing.
Chen Xiaoci, vice director of the press forge project, said the machine is designed by China National Erzhong Group and built in the company’s compound.
we have neither the artillery, nor the mech infantry, or VVD or the deep battle doctrine to make a success of the T-series in the way they were designed to do.
