AUGMENTING THE FIREPOWER

NINAD D SHETH explains how India is pushing artillery modernisation amid budget constraints

- NINAD D SHETH

Do ghosts exist? Ask this to the Indian Army and they have an answer – “yes, they do”. The ghost of Bofors has been haunting the artillery modernisation programme of the Indian Army for nearly two decades.

Late Manohar Parikkar, as the defence minister, acted as an exorcist by taking the first tentative steps to get the Indian Army’s modernisation of the firepower back on track. Under Rajnath Singh, with daily artillery exchanges on the Pakistan front and the gathering storm with China underlining the urgency, these plans have witnessed a renewed push.

India has a four pronged artillery acquisition and deployment plan that is underway, First is to acquire light howitzers that can be used by the mountain corps facing the Tibet-front. Second is to augment 155mm mobile howitzers from abroad and from the Indian sources such as the DRDO and the Ordinance Factory Board. Third is to acquire more fire control radars that can track enemy artillery positions from fired shells. Fourth is to involve the private sector in the process of testing development and acquisition of field guns. There is, thus, employment of political capital at the highest level to push artillery mobilisation to augment the ability of the Indian army.