On 8 April 2019, the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB) handed over the first four indigenously manufactured Dhanush 155mm/45 calibre guns to the army. Earlier, at a function held at the field firing ranges of the School of Artillery in Deolali, on 9 November 2018, two new weapons systems and a gun towing vehicle were formally inducted into operational service in the Regiment of Artillery. These included the 155 mm/39 calibreM777 A2 Ultra-Light Howitzer of US-origin and the K-9 Vajra self-propelled 155 mm/52 calibre gun from South Korea.
K-9 Vajra, a self-propelled artillery gun, displayed at the formal induction of the major artillery gun systems during a ceremony at the Deolali artillery centre, in Maharashtra's Nashik district. (Photo : PTI)
Ever since the procurement of 400 Bofors 155 mm/39 calibre FH77B howitzer in the mid-1980s from Sweden, these two guns were the first modern weapon systems to be inducted into Indian artillery and mark the end of two decades of stagnation in the army's modernisation plans. Indian Army artillery is presently equipped with obsolescent weapons and equipment including the 105 mm Indian Field Gun, the 122 mm Howitzer, the 130 mm Catapult self-propelled gun and 120 mm heavy mortars.
As per the Indian Army’s Field Artillery Rationalisation Plan (FARP) formulated in 1999, the Regiment of Artillery had obtained the Chief of the Army Staff's approval to standardise the calibre of its guns at 155 mm so as to be able to engage targets deep as inside enemy lines and to reduce the logistics trail through commonality of ammunition. The Army plans to acquire a total of 2,820 guns of all types to replace obsolescent types to equip the new regiments that will form part of XVII the newly raised XVII Mountain Strike Corps.
Although the Government of India had contracted for licence manufacture of the Bofors 155 mm/39-calibre FH-77B Bofors howitzer in the mid-1980s, these were never produced locally as the Bofors “scam” precluded further procurement or production and actually brought down a government.
An M777 Howitzer gun in action (Photo: PTI)
New acquisitions have slowly begun to now move forward with the government approving the acquisition of 145 pieces of 155 mm/39-calibre M777 howitzers through the Foreign Military Sales route in a government-to-government deal worth $750 million. The howitzer has a range of 24 km and weighs 4,000 kg. This weapon system, manufactured by the US-based MNC BAE Systems, will equip seven regiments, mostly for deployment in the mountains will take a few years before all these are delivered. While the first 20 pieces are being imported, the remaining 125 will be assembled in India, possibly by a joint venture with Mahindra Defence as the Indian partner.
Meanwhile, design of the indigenously manufactured Dhanush, essentially based on the Bofors design, has matured into an indigenous design during its period of development. The gun has a maximum range of 38 km and an order for 114 guns has been placed with the OFB, plus an option to buy 414 additional guns.
The acquisition of 814 truck-mounted self-propelled guns for semi-desert terrain has also been approved by the Defence Acquisition Council to be undertaken under the 'buy and make in India' category with the transfer of technology. While the first 100 guns will be imported, the remaining 714 will be manufactured in India. The total project cost is estimated to be around Rs 16,000 crore and Bharat Forge (partner Elbit of Israel), Tata Power SED (Denel, South Africa) and L&T (Nexter, France) are known to be interested in this project.
Alongside, 180 numbers of 130 mm M-46 Russian-origin guns have been upgraded to 155mm/45-calibre with kits supplied by Soltam of Israel. The maximum range of the gun has increased from 27.5 to 39 km and there is an option to upgrade another 250 to 300 guns in future as a 'buy and make in India' project.
However, the single largest artillery acquisition will be of 1,580 numbers of towed 155 mm/52-calibre guns over a period of 12 to 15 years. Of these, 400 guns are to be imported and the remaining 1,180 produced in India, with transfer-of-technology mandatory. Over the last eight to 10 years, several RFPs that were floated for this project have been cancelled allegedly because of alleged corrupt practices. New tenders were floated for these 155 mm/52-calibre long-range guns for the plains and trials are reported to have been completed. The two contenders involves joint ventures between Bharat Forge–Elbit and L&T–Nexter of France.
Meanwhile, DRDO has embarked on its own venture to design and develop a 155 mm/52-calibre Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) in partnership with Bharat Forge and Tata Power SED, both private sector companies. While Bharat Forge will manufacture the gun, Tata Power SED will provide the electronics. Efforts are also underway to mount a 130 mm gun on an Arjun MBT chassis as replacement for the Catapult, which had a 130 mm gun on a Vijayanta tank chassis. 155 mm ammunition is now being manufactured indigenously, but some fuses are still being acquired from abroad.
The Russian-origin Grad BM-21 MBRL regiments, which have been in service for almost three decades, are being given extended range rockets that have a maximum range of 40 km. Progress on the multi-barrel rocket launcher front has been better than that in the acquisition of tube artillery. A contract for the acquisition of three regiments of the 12-tube, 300 mm Smerch multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL) system with 90 km range was signed with Russia's Rosoboron export in early-2006 and Indian Army Artillery Divisions now have a regiment of this potent weapon system.
Three regiments of the indigenously designed 214 mm Pinaka multi-barrel rocket system, manufactured jointly by Tatas and L&T, have also been inducted into service. While the Pinaka has a range of 37 km at present, the Mark 2 version of the rocket will have a range of 60 km. Both these weapon systems are un-suitable for employment in mountainous terrain.
In view of their successful employment in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, UCAVs armed with PGMs should also be added to the artillery's arsenal, when it be possible to achieve future military aims and objectives, including large-scale neutralisation of the adversary's war including machinery. The Army certainly requires large quantities of PGMs for the destruction of hard targets such as MBTs and bunkers and needs a potent real-time reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition (RSTA) capability.
Pride of the Army is the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile (Mach 2.8 to 3.0), jointly developed with Russia which has precision strike capability, very high kill energy and maximum range of 290 km. It was first inducted into the Army in July 2007 and the number of BrahMos regiments have since gone up to three. The fourth regiment will have Brahmos variant capable of 'steep dive' capability for the mountains. These terrain hugging missiles are virtually immune to counter measures because of their high speed and very low radar cross section. After India signed the Missile Technology Control Regime, efforts have begun to increase the range to 400 to 500 km. The Government of India should seriously consider exporting the BrahMos missile system to achieve foreign policy objectives for example to Vietnam and the Philippines.
These four missile and rocket launcher weapon systems will together provide a major boost to the artillery's ability to neutralise key targets in the battlefield. However in the more strategic need is for a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 500 km to 600 km, fired from the plains to destroy targets in Tibet, which will be critical in a future war in the mountains.
Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal
Former Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS).