In a move that would offer a significant strategic edge to India along its western (Pakistan) and northern (China) borders, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently approved a mega deal to procure advanced towed artillery gun system (ATAGS) for the Indian Army at a cost of Rs 7,000 crore.
The defence acquisition council granted the initial approval to the procurement around two years ago. Under the deal, a total of 307 guns will be procured along with 327 gun-towing vehicles. These guns will replace the outdated 105 mm and 130 mm guns.
The higher mobility and al-weather and terrain deployability make it a great addition to India's operational capabilities along the borders.
The ATAGS is the first indigenously designed, developed, and manufactured 155 mm artillery gun system, designed to achieve superiority in firepower in terms of range, accuracy, consistency, and rate of fire.
Some of the major features of these advanced towed artillery gun systems include sustainability of fire, multiple rounds simultaneous impact fire, tow-ability, higher mobility, communication, day and night sighting, deploy-ability and maintainability, making them highly lethal in the event of battles.
According to DRDO, the gun is compatible with the existing in-service ammunitions. During technical trials at Pokhram Field Firing Range ATAGS achieved the milestone of attaining the highest-ever range of 38.5 km and 48 km with in-service ERFB Boat Tail and ERFB Base Bleed ammunitions respectively.
It is configured based on the existing operational aspects being practiced by Indian artillery, reducing the training and logistic burden.
Over 65 per cent of its components are sourced domestically, including key subsystems such as the barrel, muzzle brake, breech mechanism, firing and recoil system, and ammunition handling mechanism, according to news agency PTI. Critical subsystems on board the ATAGS such as the navigation system, muzzle velocity radar, and sensors are designed and sourced indigenously.
