New Delhi – India has approved the purchase of 145 ultralight M777 howitzers from the U.S., the first major artillery buy since it inducted howitzer guns from Switzerland-based AB Bofors in 1987. “The purchase of the 155 mm lightweight towed howitzers with Laser Inertial Artillery Pointing Systems [Linaps] will be made through the U.S. government’s foreign military sales program,” a senior defense ministry official says. The M777 is manufactured by BAE Systems ’ Global Combat Systems division.

The United Steelworkers (USW), which represents 1,800 flight attendants at Pinnacle Airlines, is objecting to Delta AirLines’ proposed debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing for the regional operator’s Chapter 11 reorganization, arguing that it imposes “overly aggressive and unrealistic milestones for collective bargaining.”

Air India has ceased all bookings on certain long-haul international flights and continues to cancel services as an industrial action by pilots of beleaguered state-run carrier Air India entered its third day.