Under the major capability development plan, artillery regiments will soon get 300 indigenous advanced towed artillery gun systems, 300 mounted gun systems, and 100 K-9 Vajra artillery guns

NEW DELHI: With the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war reinforcing that long-range, high-volume destructive firepower is a decisive battle-winning factor, India is going in for the induction of more howitzers, missiles and rockets as well as loiter munitions, swarm drones and ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) capabilities for precision-strikes against adversaries.

Under the major capability development plan underway for the Army’s artillery regiments, the procurement of around 300 indigenous advanced towed artillery gun systems (ATAGS) and 300 mounted gun systems (MGS) has already kicked off with the request for proposals (RFPs) now being issued for these 155mm/52-calibre guns, top defence sources said on Saturday.

The Army is also moving towards acquiring another 100 K-9 Vajra self-propelled tracked guns, which have a strike range of 28-38 km, through the joint venture between L&T and South Korean Hanwha Defence.

The continuing military confrontation with China in eastern Ladakh has already led to K-9 Vajra regiments with `winterisation kits’ being deployed there from the 100 such guns inducted earlier for Rs 4,366 crore. The Army has also deployed the new M-777 ultra-light howitzers as well as the old Bofors, `upgunned’ Dhanush and Sharang guns along the 3,488-km Line of Control, as reported by TOI earlier.

“An important lesson from the Russian-Ukraine war is the need for more force-survivability measures, with shoot-and-scoot techniques. So, in the revised artillery modernization plan, we are going in for more mounted and self-propelled guns,” a source said.

The contract for DRDO-developed ATAGS, which has a maximum strike range of 48-km and will be produced by Tata Advanced Systems and Bharat Forge, is also being expedited after completion of all firing trials. The initial order for 300 ATAGS will go up in the future, with the Army planning to induct “more advanced versions” for a total requirement of 1,580 such guns.

Similarly, the Army plans to induct more regiments of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles, whose strike range has been extended to 450-km from the original 290-km, to add to its existing four regiments.

While an 800-km variant of the BrahMos is also under development, the Army will also get the new Pralay conventional (non-nuclear) ballistic missiles (150 to 500-km range) in the near future, with the order for an initial 100 such missiles finalized now. “Artillery regiments need a judicious mix of guns, missiles and rockets,” the source said.

Consequently, the Army will also soon begin the gradual induction of at least six more regiments of the indigenous Pinaka multi-launch artillery rocket systems to add to the existing four regiments, which have also been deployed along the LAC.

The strike-range of the Pinaka rockets has also been extended from the original 38-km to 75-km. “Trials for these extended range guided rockets are beginning. DRDO is also exploring increasing their range to 120 to 300-km,” the source said.

All these lethal weapons are being supplemented with induction of a variety of drones and surveillance devices to more accurately direct fire against enemy targets, while deliveries of some precision-strike loitering munitions have also begun under emergency procurements.

“The ongoing reorganisation of SATA (surveillance and target acquisition) artillery units will include induction of tactical remotely-piloted aircraft, loiter weapon systems, swarm drones, latest weapon-locating radars and battle-field surveillance radars. This will enable an effective, seamless and networked sensor-to-shooter linkage,” the source said.