Lack of Artillery Modernisation will Adversely Impact on Operational Plans

(by India Strategic) New Delhi. While Pakistan recently acquired M-109 A5 155mm howitzers from the United States, the most potent and the most sophisticated self-propelled gun in the world, India once again cancelled its Request for Proposal (RfP) for 1,580 towed guns (155mm, 52 calibre). This has set back the artillery modernisation programme of the Indian Army by another three to five years over and above the ten-year long delay that has already occurred.
Of all the combat arms of the Indian Army, artillery will be a battle winning factor on future battlefields. It is a well-established fact that potent artillery firepower had turned the tide and eventually paved the way for victory during the Kargil conflict. Yet, despite the lessons learnt in Kargil, modernisation of the artillery has continued to stagnate. In a future conventional war that will be fought under the nuclear shadow, the ability to manoeuvre with large tank columns and armoured personnel carriers will be extremely limited due to the need to avoid crossing an adversary’s nuclear red lines. In the mountains, manoeuvre is in any case not possible due to the restrictions imposed by the terrain. The inability to manoeuvre will lead to much.
greater emphasis being placed on firepower to achieve the desired military aims and objectives. Hence, it is imperative that artillery modernisation is undertaken with alacrity so as to generate firepower asymmetries of a high order on the future battlefield.

Slow Process

The last major acquisition of towed gun-howitzers was that of about 400 pieces of 39-calibre 155mm FH-77B howitzers with a range of 30 km from Bofors of Sweden in the mid-1980s. This gun had proved its mettle in the Kargil conflict. After two decades of neglect during which the 100mm and 122mm field guns of Russian origin and the indigenously developed and manufactured 75/24 Indian Mountain Gun joined the long list of equipment bordering on obsolescence but still in service with the Indian Army, tenders were floated and trials were held for a 52-calibre 155mm towed gun to replace all field and medium guns.
Just when a contract for 120 self-propelled (SP) guns on tank tracks and 180 wheeled SP 155mm guns was about to be concluded after years of protracted trials, Denel a South African arms manufacturer and a leading contender for the contract, was alleged to have been involved in a corruption scam in an earlier deal for anti-material rifles (AMRs). The other two howitzers in contention, from Soltam of Israel and BAE Systems (erstwhile Bofors of Sweden) reportedly did not meet the laid down criteria and Army HQ recommended fresh trials. The guns did not meet the stringent performance parameters as they were mainly technology demonstration and developmental models and not guns that were in actual service with the home country armies.
It was then decided to begin the process all over again, setting the programme back at least three to four years.
Beginning in January 2008, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued three global tenders for 155mm guns and howitzers for the mountains, the plains and self-propelled guns for the deserts. The Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC) of MoD, chaired by the Defence Minister, approved the procurement of 1,580 guns on December 13, 2007 and an RfP was issued on March 26, 2008. The RfP was issued to eight prospective bidders including BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Nexter (France), Rhinemetall (Germany), Samsung (South Korea) and ST Kinetics. The Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) short-listed the guns of BAE Systems and ST Kinetics.
The DAC had also approved the procurement of 145 light-weight towed 155mm, 39-caliber howitzers on June 19, 2006 and an RfP was issued to ten global vendors on January 14, 2008. ST Kinetics was the only one to submit a Technical and Commercial Offer for its Pegasus Light Weight Howitzer. As it became a single-vendor situation, the MoD initiated the procurement of light-weight howitzers through the direct Foreign Military Sale (FMS) route from the US government.
An RfP has also been issued for 180 wheeled self-propelled 155mm guns for around Rs 4,700 crore for employment by mechanised forces in the plains and semi-desert sectors. Summer and winter trials of all the new guns were expected to be held over the next one year and it was anticipated that contracts would be awarded as early as in the first half of 2010.
While the summer trials of the self-propelled (wheeled) howitzers were held in 2010, none of the other manufacturers have so far been invited for trials and the tender for 1,580 towed howitzers has again been cancelled.
 Guns for the Mountains
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 39 or 45-calibre155mm 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.
In January 2008, the MoD floated an RfP for 145 pieces of ultra-light 39-calibre 155mm towed howitzers for use by the Indian Army’s mountain formations.
Presumably, these howitzers will also be employed by the Army’s rapid reaction divisions – as and when these are raised – as these howitzers will be easy to transport by air. 145 howitzers will be adequate to equip seven medium artillery regiments and will cost approximately Rs 3,000 crore. Though the RfP was issued to BAE Systems and to Singapore Technologies and trials were slated to commence, in June 2009, Singapore Technologies was black-listed for its suspected involvement in another procurement scam.
The US BAE Systems M777 A1 howitzer is now undergoing summer trials at Pokhran and will be put through winter trials soon after the present round is completed.

Some Progress

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 also joined the list of guns and howitzers heading for obsolescence. 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-calibres has enhanced the range of the gun to about 40 km with extended range ammunition.
There has been notable progress on the rocket artillery front however.
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 signed with Russia’s Rosoboronexport in early-2006 and the equipment has since been received. This weapon system is a major boost for the long-range firepower capabilities of the army. If this weapon system had been available during the Kargil conflict, 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 of Russian origin 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 contract worth Rs 5,000 crore has also been signed for the serial production of the Pinaka MBRL weapon system, a DRDO project initially plagued by time delays and completed with help from Larsen and Toubro and the Tatas. The Pinaka rockets will have an approximate range of 37 km and sub-zero probability of error.
Counter-bombardment (US term counter-fire) 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, but only a dozen have been procured so far.
In addition to the 12 AN-TPQ 37 Firefinder WLRs acquired from Raytheon, USA, 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 are likely to be approved for introduction into service after extensive trials that are ongoing.
The radar is expected to match the capabilities of the Firefinder system and will have a detection range of about 40 km.
An indigenous sound ranging system for locating the positions of enemy guns based on the sound of their firing does not appear to be making worthwhile progress and may be shelved in favour of an imported system. In fact, it needs to be considered whether this relic of the two World Wars, that is rather cumbersome to deploy and maintain, deserves a silent burial as gun and mortar locating radars now provide accurate locations of enemy guns and mortars.
Efforts are also underway to add ballistic as well as cruise missiles to the artillery arsenal.
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, is being inducted into the army. A ceremonial induction function of the Block-I version was held in July 2007. Since then, the Block-II version has successfully completed trials. 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.
Efforts are afoot to further increase its strike range. BrahMos Aerospace has orders worth Rs 3,500 crore from the Army and the Navy, which has 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 supersonic speed and very low radar cross section and are far superior to sub-sonic cruise missiles like Pakistan’s Babur.
Chile, Kuwait, Malaysia and South Africa have shown interest in acquiring the BrahMos missile.
The modernisation plans of tube artillery alone are likely to cost Rs 13,000 crore at FY 2008-09 prices. The major acquisitions will be of initial lots of 400 towed howitzers of 155mm calibre, with a barrel length of 52-calibres, costing about Rs 4,000 crore, 145 light-weight 155mm towed howitzers, with a barrel length of 45-calibres, costing Rs 3,000 crore and 180 SP 155mm howitzers costing Rs 5,000 crore.
The “Shakti” project for command and control systems for the artillery, earlier called Artillery Combat Command and Control System (ACCCS), has passed user trials and is now being fielded extensively in the plains. Gradually it will be fielded up to the corps level and the two artillery divisions will be equipped with it.
Artillery modernisation must be given a major boost so that the army gets the firepower that it needs for any future conflict. In conjunction with aerially delivered firepower, the artillery is the only combat arm that can cause degradation and destruction and ultimately break the enemy’s will to fight.
Any further delay in the implementation of artillery modernisation plans will be extremely detrimental to national security interests.

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