Breaking the Bofors jinx, India and the US inked a nearly 5,000 crore rupees deal for 145 M777 ultra-light howitzers, which will be mostly deployed near the borders with China.<br/><br/>This is the first deal for artillery guns since the Bofors scandal in 1980s.<br/><br/>India signed the Letter of Acceptance which formalises the contract between India and US for these guns, sources said.<br/><br/>The deal for 145 American ultra-light howitzers, costing about 5,000 crore rupees was recently cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).<br/><br/>The deal was inked as a two-day meeting of the 15th India-US Military Cooperation Group (MCG) began in Delhi.<br/><br/>India-US MCG is a forum established to progress Defence Cooperation between HQ Integrated Defence Staff and US Pacific Command at the strategic and operational levels. <br/><br/>A 260-member delegation from the US Defence Forces and several officers from the three Services HQ and HQ IDS representing the Indian side are attending the bilateral event.<br/><br/>The offsets, under which BAE Systems, manufacturer of the gun, will invest about 200 million dollar, will be pursued independently.<br/><br/>While 25 guns will come to India in a fly-away condition, the rest will be assembled at the proposed Assembly Integration and Test facility for the weapon system in India in partnership with Mahindra.