One of the major contributions of the Indian Navy to the liberation of Goa in 1961 was the role of the INS Delhi. The INS Delhi, a cruiser obtained from the UK, was one of the largest warships in the Indian Navy then.
During the liberation of Goa, the INS Delhi used her BL 6 152mm (6 inch) calibre heavy guns to bombard Portuguese defences to support the Indian Army's advance. The calibre of a gun is the approximate internal diameter of its barrel.
The INS Delhi and another cruiser, the INS Mysore—also obtained from the UK—were equipped with the BL 6 guns. By the 1980s, both ships were decommissioned from the Indian Navy and the service started to induct much smaller main guns, which were less suited for hitting targets on shore. A warship typically uses its main gun to fire at smaller enemy ships and to hit targets on shore.
But the Indian Navy may soon get back the capability to hit targets on land using guns. Guns offer a cheaper alternative than missiles.
The Donald Trump administration on Wednesday notified the US Congress that it had approved the sale of 13 naval guns to the Indian Navy in a deal valued at approximately $1 billion. The Defence Acquisition Council of the Indian government had approved the procurement of the 13 guns in April 2018.
The 13 Mk 45 Mod 4 guns will be fitted to under-construction warships including the Visakhapatnam class of destroyers and the Nilgiri class of stealth frigates as their main gun. The Mk 45 is in service with numerous US allies, including Japan, South Korea and Australia and was selected by the UK in 2016 for its future ships.
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The Mk 45 is a 127mm (5 inch) gun, which is significantly larger than the Indian Navy's existing main guns that currently consist of the 100mm calibre guns obtained from Russia and 76mm 'Oto Melara' guns from Italy. The Talwar class of frigates, built in Russia, and indigenous Delhi class destroyers use derivatives of 100mm guns built in Russia. The Kolkata class of destroyers and Shivalik class frigates use the 76mm gun.
As it is a larger calibre gun, the Mk 45 can fire its shells to a distance of more than 36km, according to BAE Systems. This is well in excess of the range of "over 20km" of the A190E gun on the Talwar class frigates. Moreover, its heavier shell ensure the Mk 45 has greater lethality. The greater range of the Mk 45 would give the Indian Navy greater flexibility to hit targets on shore and even further inland.
US defence contractor Raytheon and the US Navy have been testing a variant of the Excalibur guided artillery shell on the Mk 45, which will have a range of over 40km. The Excalibur is an artillery shell that has fins for extended range and GPS guidance for increased accuracy. According to Raytheon, the N5, the naval variant of the Excalibur, "doubles the range of the Navy's big guns". Interestingly, the Indian Army announced in October it had received Excalibur shells for its 155mm guns obtained from the US.
