In a future conventional war on the Indian subcontinent, which will be fought under the nuclear shadow, planning to undertake deep maneuver on the battlefield will be extremely risky. This restrictions will lead to much greater emphasis being placed on firepower to achieve the laid down military aims and objectives. Hence, it is imperative that artillery modernization is undertaken with alacrity so as to generate firepower asymmetries on the future battlefield to compensate for limited maneuver.

After a long spell of keeping the power dry , action on modernization of the Indian artillery is livening up once again. Since January 2008, the Ministry of Defence has issued three global tenders for 155MM howitzers for the mountains, the plains and self-propelled guns for the deserts.

Summer and winter trials are expected to be held over the next year one year and, red tape permitting contracts may be awarded as early as in the first half of 2010.

Artillery firepower had paved the way for victory during Kargil conflict. Despite, the lessons learnt in Kargil, modernization of artillery has continued to lag behind. The last major acquisition of towed gun-howitzers was that of about 400 pieces of 39 calibre-155mm FH-778 Howitzers from Bofors of Sweden in the mid 1980s.

This gun had proved its mettle in the Kargil conflict. Just when a contractor for 120 tracked and 180 wheeled self-propelled (SP) 155mm guns was about to be concluded after years of protracted trials, South African arms manufacturer Denel , a leading contender for the contract, was alleged to have been involved in corruption scam in an earlier deal for Anti-Material Rifles (AMRs). The other two howitzers in contention, Soltam of Israel and BAE systems (which own Bofors of Sweden) did not meet the laid down criteria and the Army HQ recommended fresh trials. This set the programme back at least three to four years.

A key issue was that the howitzers that had been offered were technology demonstration models and not guns that were in actual service with the home country armies.

The probability of the next conventional war breaking out in the mountains is far higher than that of a war in the plains. With this in view, the artillery recently conceptualised a requirement for a light-weight towed howitzer of 155mm calibre for employment in the mountains.

Neither the present Bofors howitzer nor its 52-calibre replacement will be capable of effective operations in the mountains. A light-weight 45-calibre 155mm howitzer weighing less than 5,000 kg, with a light but adequately powered prime mover, is ideal for the mountains. The gun-train should be capable of negotiating sharp road bends without the need to unhook the gun from the prime mover.

The two British 45-calibre 155mm howitzers that competed for the US contract for a similar howitzer some years ago – the UFH (Ultralightweight Field Howitzer) and the LTH (Light-weight Towed Howitzer) – or others that have now been developed could be considered for licensed production with transfer of technology.

In January 2008, the MoD floated a Request for Proposal (RfP) for 140 pieces of ultra-light 39 calibre 155mm towed howitzers for use by the Indian Army’s mountain formations. Presumably, these will also be employed by its rapid reaction divisions – as and when these are raised – as these howitzers will be easy to transport by air. 140 howitzers will be adequate to equip seven medium artillery regiments and will cost approximately Rs 3,000 crore.

The RfP had been reportedly issued to UK’s BAE Systems (which now owns Bofors), for the M777 howitzer claimed to be the lightest in the world at under 4,220 kg, and to Singapore Technologies for the Pegasus SLWH,
also an excellent gun.

India has floated a global tender for the purchase of 400 155mm towed artillery guns for the Army, to be followed by indigenous manufacture of another 1,100 howitzers, in a project worth a whopping Rs 8,000 crore. The RFP was issued to eight prospective bidders including BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Nexter (France), Rhinemetall (Germany) and Samsung (South Korea). An RfP has also been issued for 180 wheeled self-propelled guns for around Rs 4,700 crore for employment by mechanised forces in the plains and semi-desert sectors.

Since the Bofors 155mm Howitzer was introduced into service, the indigenously designed and manufactured 105 mm Indian Field Gun (IFG) and its (not so) light version, the Light Field Gun (LFG), have joined the 75/24 Indian Mountain Gun, the 100mm Russian field gun and the 122mm Russian howitzer on the obsolescence list. Approximately 180 pieces of 130mm M46 Russian medium guns have been successfully “up-gunned” to 155mm calibre with ordnance supplied by Soltam of Israel. The new barrel length of 45 calibre has enhanced the range of the gun to about 40 km with extended range ammunition.

A contract for the acquisition of two regiments of the 12-tube, 300mm Smerch multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL) system with 90 km range was reported to have been signed with Russia’s Rosoboronexport in early-2006. This will be a major boost for the long-range .repower capabilities of the army. If this weapon system had been available during the Kargil con.ict, Pakistan’s brigade HQ and forward airfield at Skardu and other targets deep inside POK could have been hit with impunity.

Extended range (ER) rockets are being introduced for the 122 mm Grad MBRL that has been in service for over three decades. The ER rockets will enhance the weapon system’s range from 22 to about 40 km. A Rs 5,000 crore contract has also been signed for the serial production of the Pinaka MBRL weapon system, another DRDO project plagued by time delays and completed with help from Larsen and Toubro and the Tatas. And it has now a precision capability to one metre.

Counter-bombardment (US term counter-.re) capability is also being upgraded, but at a slow pace. At least about 40 to 50 Weapon Locating Radars (WLRs) are required for effective counter-bombardment, especially in the plains, and only a dozen have been procured so far.

In addition to the 12 AN-TPQ 37 Fire.nder WLRs acquired from US military technology leader Raytheon, under a 2002 contract worth US $200 million, Bharat Electronics Limited is assembling 28 WLRs. These radars will be based on both indigenous and imported components and have been approved for induction into service after extensive tests. The radar is expected to match the capabilities of the Fire.nder system and will have a detection range of about 40 km. The chassis is Tatra, made indigenously by BEML

The modernisation plan of tube artillery alone is likely to cost Rs 13,000 crores, or USD 3 billion-plus, going possibly to $ 4 billion. The major acquisitions will be of the initial lots of 400 towed howitzers of 155mm calibre, with a barrel length of 52 calibre, costing about Rs 4,000 crore, 140 ultra-light weight 155mm towed howitzers, with a barrel length of 45 calibre, costing Rs 3,000 crore and 180 SP 155mm howitzers costing Rs 5,000 crore.

The “Shakti” project for a command and control system for the artillery, called Artillery Combat Command and Control System (ACCCS), has reached the stage of maturity and is now being fielded up to the regimental level.

The BrahMos supersonic cruise missile (Mach 2.8 to 3.0), with a precision strike capability, very high kill energy and range of 290 km, was inducted into the army in July 2007.

It is a versatile missile that can be launched from TATRA mobile launchers and silos on land, aircraft and ships and, perhaps in future, also from submarines.

Fifty BrahMos missiles are expected to be produced every year for the Army, and further development towards a Block II version to increase its strike range and lethality.

BrahMos Aerospace has orders worth Rs 3,500 crore from the Indian Army and the Navy, with the latter having opted for the anti-ship as well as the land attack cruise missile (LACM) versions. These terrain hugging missiles are virtually immune to counter measures due to their high speed and very low radar cross section and are far superior to subsonic cruise missiles like Pakistan’s Babur.

Chile, Kuwait, Malaysia and South Africa have shown interest in acquiring this missile. It is often not realised that the Regiment of Artillery of the Indian Army is also its strategic arm as it mans the nuclear-tipped Prithvi, Agni-I and Agni-II ballistic missiles and will soon be equipped with the Agni-III. Surely when the Surya project is completed and India gets its first ICBM, the honour of manning that too is likely to go to the Gunners.

As a fighting arm that straddles the operational scenario from the tactical to the strategic, and as an arm that holds the bulk of the Indian Army’s surveillance and target acquisition equipment, the Regiment of Artillery is a force to reckon with – a force that will contribute extensively to guiding the manner in which the next conventional war will be prosecuted and how victory will be measured.

Hence, it is in the national interest to ensure that that the modernisation of the artillery proceeds apace without let or hindrance.

(The author is Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, CLAWS, New Delhi).