INDIA'S ARTILLERY MODERNISATION DRIVE

Does India have enough firepower to sustain a two-front war? GIRISH LINGANNA answers

For many years, India has been actively attempting to modernise its artillery. The year1999 saw the creation of India's Field Artillery Rationalisation Programme (FARP), which served as a blueprint for the country's artillery response in future conflicts, particularly those that took place in mountainous terrain.

According to FARP, by 2025-2027, the Indian Army will have a combination of around 3,000-3,600 155mm but diverse caliber types of towed, mounted, and self-propelled (tracked and wheeled) howitzers. This is supposed to be the case. This was expected to be accomplished by utilising various methods, including licenced manufacture, direct imports, and indigenous systems.

However, estimates produced within the armed services imply that it won't be till the year 2040 that the Indian Army can approach close to the aim that it nurtured in 1999.

One of the programmes was directly imported from the United States, and the other was a joint production project between private defence player L&T and a South Korean corporation. These are the only two programmes that have been successful out of the many that are being pursued.

The M777s were imported directly into the country, and 145 of them were specifically purchased to be used in combat against China. As of the right moment, seven regiments of the Ultra Lightweight Howitzer have been inducted and stationed along the Line of Actual Control. Each regiment is equipped with 18 guns (LAC).

However, The Ukraine war has shown that the M777s are not the most reliable weapons in a high-intensity conflict. At the same time, the issues with the M777s in Ukraine could be because of the vintage of the guns, as the Western world used the conflict as the dump yard for all its old and antiquated weapons.