Producing 155mm ammunition locally, buying new gun systems: Army counters supply chain issues due to Russia-Ukraine war

Briefing journalists connected Thursday, Lt Gen Kumar said the Army has taken respective steps to antagonistic the proviso concatenation issues thrown up by the ongoing planetary conflicts, peculiarly the Russia-Ukraine war.

This, helium said, includes emphasising the indigenous accumulation of a scope of ammunition portion besides expanding the vendor basal by including respective backstage and nationalist assemblage firms that tin nutrient ammunition.

“Earlier, we were babelike connected 1 bureau for accumulation of 155mm ammunition. Now, nether the Make successful India project, accumulation of each types of 155 mm ammunition has been thrown unfastened to the nationalist and the backstage assemblage and the effect has been good,” helium said.

He added that successful October and November, the Army volition transportation retired trials of antithetic types of 155 mm ammunition done backstage and nationalist assemblage companies.

The ammunition manufacturing, helium said, volition not lone see shells but besides bi-modular complaint systems and the fuse successful beforehand of the shell.

Aside from this, the accumulation and induction of futuristic ammunition are besides connected the cards for the Army. This includes nubless ammunition — utilized by large planetary armies — and a connection to procure this was cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) past year.

“A fig of projects are underway to summation our capableness successful precision-guided and terminally guided ammunition,” helium said.

In September past year, a apical serviceman had said that the ongoing warfare betwixt Russia and Ukraine has highlighted the request to person a judicious premix of rockets and guns successful the Army’s artillery inventory, to get much precision targeting limb systems and niche technologies and the criticality of a robust battlefield transparency.

The serviceman had besides said that determination is simply a request for capable measures for “force preservation” oregon to support the Indian forces from counter-bombardment of the force during a warfare and frankincense the request for much quantities of self-propelled guns, mounted guns systems oregon towed guns with auxiliary powerfulness units with a sprout and scoot capability.

Such cardinal lessons from the warfare had emerged for the Indian artillery which are present being incorporated into its doctrines and capableness improvement plans.

Lt Gen Kumar besides said contracts for a scope of artillery guns are astatine an precocious signifier and could beryllium concluded wrong this fiscal year. For instance, the DAC had already granted clearance to procure 100 further K9 Vajra self-propelled Howitzers and further processes are connected astatine present.

Additionally, helium said, the proceedings reports of the precocious towed artillery weapon systems oregon ATAGS are nether valuation and a declaration is expected to beryllium signed soon to procure 300 of those weapon systems.

The Army has already signed a declaration for the Dhanush guns with Jabalpur-based Advanced Weapons and Equipment India Limited (AWEIL), and Army teams located determination are intimately monitoring the advancement of improvement of the Dhanush and the Sharang weapon systems.

The 155mm guns volition beryllium the modular calibre of each artillery guns successful enactment with worldwide trends going forward, the serviceman said.

Earlier, officials had said that portion the occidental beforehand requires much mounted weapon systems and self-propelled weapon systems, the towed weapon systems with a shoot-and-scoot capableness would beryllium much apt for deployment on India’s mountainous bluish borders.

Referring to the Pinaka rocket strategy arsenic 1 of the world’s champion rocket systems, Lt Gen Kumar said enactment is underway to summation its scope by up to 4 times. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has been exploring expanding the scope of Pinaka rockets to 120 and 300 km. He added that these rocket systems are versatile arsenic they tin occurrence a assortment of munitions and that is wherever its efficacy comes successful the battlefield.

“Trials are going connected for the guided extended scope of the Pinaka rockets, the high-altitude trials person been promising and the trials astatine the plains volition beryllium held adjacent month. If these trials are successful, we anticipation to reason the declaration successful speedy time,” helium said.

Additionally, the Army is besides looking astatine signing a declaration to procure pre-fragmented explosives. These are a benignant of warhead containing pre-formed fragments that are ejected astatine precocious speeds erstwhile the warhead detonates, frankincense penetrating targets. Further, the Army mightiness besides soon procure country denial munition systems — weapons that bounds the state of question of opposing forces wrong a circumstantial operational area.

As per officers, the Army is inducting niche exertion instrumentality specified arsenic loiter munitions, swarm drones, runway-independent remotely piloted aircraft, latest limb locating radars and battlefield surveillance radars.

The program for ‘mediumisation’ with indigenous guns is apt to beryllium completed by the twelvemonth 2042, officers had earlier said.