Indian Army learns lessons from Ukraine conflict, boosts weapons purchases
Hindustan Times, the Indian Army is also ramping up its weapons including guns, rocket systems, and missiles. Army's five-pronged strategy, which will cost thousands of crores, evolved after assessing the needs of the artillery regiments on a battlefield. Citing an official, the HT report said all regiments would be equipped with advanced 155mm artillery gun systems, inducting missiles and rockets with longer ranges, lethal ammunition, reorganisation of surveillance, and shortening the sensor-to-shooter loop for swift detection.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has reaffirmed the primacy of firepower as a battle-winning factor, therefore, the Army has revised its profile of weaponry. One of the key lessons learned from the 19-month-old war is to deploy more self-propelled and mounted gun systems for improved mobility, missiles, and rockets with superior range, ensuring increased survivability against the enemy. In the past five years, all gun systems bought or are in the process of being procured, are aimed at enhancing the artillery's lethality, reach, and versatility.
The artillery's focus is on pursuing modernisation through indigenisation. However, M777 ultra-light howitzers are imported from the US. Notably, the Defence Research and Development Organisation began a project called Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) in 2013 to replace older army guns with a modern 155mm artillery gun.
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