Low calibre guns will soon be passe in the Army

Low calibre guns will soon be passe in the Army
RAKSHIT SONAWANE

DEVLALLI (Nashik) JAN 25: The Indian Army is to bring in a uniformity in the calibre of its artillery by replacing all guns with indigenously manufactured 155 mm guns by 2015, according to the Officiating Commandant and Colonel Commandant of the School of Artillery, Major General R S Nagra. Speaking on the occasion of the firepower exercise of the artillery `Topchi', Nagra said that all the existing guns of low calibre, like the 105 mm, 122 mm and 130 mm, would be replaced with a new 155 mm gun. He said that initially the gun would be imported and would be later indigenously produced to bring in a uniform calibre force with better range, giving more teeth to the Army.

He further said that the project would take some time as the gun to be procured for indigenous production was yet to be identified. He, however, pointed out that by 2015 the entire artillery would comprise guns of 155 mm calibre. He said that some of them would be Self-Propelled (SP) guns while some would be tow-guns.

He added that the Army was being upgraded by introduction of new equipment like the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and the state of the art surveillance and target acquisition equipment. He said that the morale of the Army officials and jawans was very high.

Meanwhile, the existing 130 mm gun is being upgraded to 155 mm by a firm based in Israel. The upgradation, likely to take place within a few months, will increase the gun's range from the existing 27.5 km to 39 km.

The firepower of the artillery was displayed by the School of Artillery today through the 120 mm mortar, the 105 mm Indian Field Gun, the 105 mm Light Field Gun, the 130 mm gun, the 122 mm Howitzer, the 122 mm BM Grad rocket launcher and the 155 mm Bofors gun in its inventory. Cheetah and Chetak helicopters piloted by army aviators and paratroopers also took part in the exercise. Major General G S Virk and Rear Admiral Y Prasad were also present on the occasion.