With Gunners making their own guns, Army's Artillery scripts a success story

In an out-of-the-box weapons development model worthy of emulating, Indian Army's Artillery is a stakeholder in the manufacturing of 'Dhanush' and ATAGS 155mm guns. It may pave the way for more weapons to be developed this way, writes senior journalist Sanjib Kr Baruah.

New Delhi: Quietly and in professional soldier-like style, the Indian Army's Artillery has scripted a stunning success story which has deep implications for India's move to qualitatively improve and indigenize the manufacturing of big guns, possibly doing away with the need for imports of howitzers.

"From just using the guns in the past, the Artillery has become stakeholders in the manufacturing of the 'Dhanush' and the 'Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System' (ATAGS). It is an unprecedented step where the end-user is also the product-maker. The Army has set up a successful weapons development model which has deep implications for the 'Make in India' project," an official familiar with the development told ETV Bharat.

"The Artillery had set up its own weapons development team under a Brigadier-rank officer and stationed it at the Gun Carriage Factory (GCF) in Jabalpur to work together to produce the 'Dhanush'. Because of its success, another similar model had been set up for ATAGS in collaboration with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). One tenure of the Army's ATAGS team is already over."

The 'Dhanush' — also called 'Desi Bofors' and the ATAGS projects have overwhelmingly dominant indigenous components and technology.

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The move enhances the participatory role of the end-user which is the Arty in this case, besides imparting a sense of ownership in the product. This is unlike in the past when the Army was brought in only at the trials stage to try and test the weapon.

But most importantly, with most defence projects plagued by incessant delays due to bureaucracy, it cuts down on the time as the Arty is actively involved in the design, development and production of the weapon and can make it much smoother and easier for the weapon to be successfully inducted into the forces.

Buoyed by the success, the defence ministry has sanctioned for extension or renewal of the project. It has given rise to the expectation that the Arty model could be emulated for every other weapon.

For long the Indian Artillery's mainstay was the Bofors 155m, 39 calibre gun. Now there are a range of options like the 'Dhanush', ATAGS, 'K9 Vajra' and the M-777 howitzer.

'Dhanush' is a 155 mm, 45-calibre towed artillery gun, with a 38-km range, while the ATAGS is a 152mm, 52-calibre gun. On the other hand, the K9 Vajra is a self-propelled artillery gun that is being made with South Korean technology while the M-777 Ultra Light Howitzers (ULH) is of US origin.

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In 2019, the Indian Army had placed an order for 114 'Dhanush' guns with the GCF, Jabalpur. The contract is likely to be completed by 2022. Orders totaling more than 400 guns are likely.

According to the 1999 Artillery Modernisation Programme or Field Artillery Rationalisation Plan (FARP), the Indian army plans to field about 3,000 guns by 2025 by first importing, then locally developing, and finally licence-producing 155mm guns with precision guided munitions playing a pivotal role.