New Delhi. Looking to use the expertise of Indian Industry to produce a 155 mm/52 calibre Towed Gun System, which will be lighter, versatile and cater for future technological advancements, the Indian Army issued a tender worth Rs 6500 crore on August 16 for buying 400 howitzers.
As part of its major modernisation plan with regard to defence equipment, the Army will buy the guns in the Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured (IDDM) category from Indian firms. The purchase would provide a major boost to the domestic firms in the defence sector.
In the coming years, as legacy equipment will get replaced, there would be a manifold rise in demand in next generation artillery guns. The private defence manufacturing sector has invested heavily in the past few years to develop artillery systems.
“A tender for buying 400, 155-mm 52-calibre towed artillery gun systems (TAGS) along with towing vehicles from Indian firms under the Buy Indian-IDDM category has been issued,” senior military officials told a leading news agency. The officials said that the firms who have received the tender include local defence majors Bharat Forge, Larsen and Toubro, Adani, and Ordnance Factory Board.
Likely to be completed by the year 2042, the procurement process is part of the Army plan for Mediumisation with indigenous guns. In the last decade, four contracts have been concluded for the procurement of 155 mm howitzer. A number of new howitzers have been procured by the force including gun systems like the Dhanush, Sharang, Ultra-Light Howitzer (ULH) and K-9 Vajra Self-Propelled Guns. These Gun Systems have already been inducted and more number of Regiments are being equipped with these guns.
Earlier, the Indian Army has already issued a tender for buying 307 Advanced Towed Artillery Gun Systems (ATAGS) along with one for finding a mounted gun system for its requirements along borders with China and Pakistan.
The Dhanush Guns are an electronic upgrade of the Bofors Guns, while the Sharang Guns have been upgraded from 130 mm to 155 mm calibre. The Seven and Five regiments have already been equipped with Self-Propelled guns.
In the future, 155 mm will be the standard calibre of all artillery guns with automated systems and assemblies. The emphasis is on the development of new technologies in sighting systems, ammunition manufacturing, metallurgy, and networking of guns, the sources added.
