In a development that strongly underlines the ongoing ‘Atmanirbharta’ or self-reliance effort, the Indian Army is well-poised to be the world’s first army that will use ramjet power to fire its 155mm artillery shells resulting in a range increase by 30-50 per cent while retaining the lethality.
A major thrust area for the Indian Army’s artillery has been the development of rockets with longer ranges and greater precision and of munitions with increased ranges and accuracy.
Already in use in missiles, ramjet-assisted artillery shell for the 155 mm artillery shells is being developed by IIT Madras with the Indian Army through the Army Technology Board (ATB) already having given the project for the development.
Explaining the basic dynamics, Professor P.A. Ramakrishna from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, IIT Madras, told THE WEEK: “Ramjet is an air breathing engine, which does not require any compressor or turbine. The engine needs to be at around Mach number of 2, for it to start. Hence, it requires either a gun or a rocket to launch it to that particular Mach number. Once at that Mach number, the air gets compressed by the air intake and the heat is added by burning a propellant, which then expands through a nozzle resulting in thrust.”
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“Once developed, the Indian Army is free to use this in any number of 155 mm shells as it can retrofitted on to an existing 155 mm artillery shell,” says Ramakrishna.
At the moment, the shell is undergoing developmental trials with IIT Madras even while it has been successfully tested in trials at Rajasthan’s Pokharan field firing ranges.
On whether the ramjet-powered shell can be fitted for the M 777 ultra-light howitzer, the IIT Madras professor said: “Once the technology is developed it can be used on any gun system that the Indian Army has in its armoury.”
The Indian Army’s artillery gun profile comprises several calibers—130 mm (M-46) Russian medium guns, 122 mm (Russian field guns), 105 mm, 122 mm and the 155 mm.
Artillery guns are classed under light, medium, and heavy guns. Artillery ammunition up to 105mm is considered ‘light’ and is mainly used for close support of ground troops.
‘Medium’ lies in the 106-155mm range and is usually used for bombardment, while projectiles more than 155mm fall in the ‘heavy’ category and are used for attacking rear installations.