I think I read here that the total requirements of the K-9 should easily be at least 400 if not more . The same member stated our total requirements of the Rafales - IAF + IN would also easily reach a minimum of 300 & could well exceed it . To put things into perspective that's a third more than what the total requirements of the French armed forces ( current + projected ) is expected to be .
All this was supposed to be materialize in 2022.
It's good to see at least one of items in what's essentially a wish list projected as an imperative come true even if the requirements are short of what's been predicted.
However my query was on the MGS. Which MGS do we possess as of now ? I know BF , OFB ,DRDO etc have a lot of projects in various stages of development in the pipeline .
None as of today. But I believe the original requirements for MGS will be modified for atleast 2-3 different categories. An ultra light 105mm gun, another a lighter 155/39 mm gun for LAC and then 155/52 gun for Western border.
There are pending orders of Pinaka and Brahmos for the Army. Army will likely spend on these three big ticket items in 2022 along with the MR-SAM.
They've no choice but to expedite it quickly now. No Athos coming.
Muahahahahahaha....
Hopefully weight and cost reduction is achieved.
Else it will turn out to be a sea wolf class project. Too good and costly.
Those weren't the only issues though. Weren't the electro mechanical controls sought to be replaced by hydraulics ? It's like designing an entirely new gun . This would be followed by testing it to eternity.
But why to cancel wheeled Howitzers, compared to tracked one wheeled sph is having better mobility. We should place order for 200-300 k9 without scrapping the wheeled howitzers.
One more query, the proposal for kalyani truck based howitzer is different project, right?
Wheeled SPH has been dropped. Tracked SPH has been found adequate for our requirements with respect to finances.
Truck MGS hasn't been. 814 was the proposed number. But now I think we will buy more than that for sure.
Rationalisation plan called for
1. Tracked Self Propelled Howitzer : K9 V-T
2. Wheeled Self Propelled Howitzer: Merged , will be fulfilled by K9
3. Ultra Light Mountain Howitzer : M777 (In future Desi alternative possible)
4. Truck Mounted Gun System : Dhanush Mounted on TATRA and Kalyani ones are proposed
5. Towed artillery : Dhanush, M46 upgrade, ATAGS
1. Tracked Self Propelled Howitzer : K9 V-T
2. Wheeled Self Propelled Howitzer: Merged , will be fulfilled by K9
3. Ultra Light Mountain Howitzer : M777 (In future Desi alternative possible)
4. Truck Mounted Gun System : Dhanush Mounted on TATRA and Kalyani ones are proposed
5. Towed artillery : Dhanush, M46 upgrade, ATAGS
For 1 and 2 : Initial plans called for approximately 400 pieces in total. We had approx 250 SPH of 105 and 122mm in our inventory. We have inducted 100 K9 , and probably will add another 200. So a total of 300. Hopefully a another 100 too will eventually be ordered.
3. Ultra Light Mountain Howitzer: 145 M777 are under procurement. MoD and Army have stated that a further of 500 more such guns of under 5 ton weight is required. Kalyani offering might be considered. Anything concrete will happen once Mahindra completes the delivery of 145 guns.
4. Mounted Gun System: 814 number requirements. But I believe that we will eventually settle for more than this number. One variant will be 155/52 on a 6x6 truck for Western border and another will be 155/39 on a 4x4 truck for LAC. ATAGS on truck won't happen in my opinion, as ATAGS itself is 18 tons heavy. It will either be Dhanush 155/52 gun or Bharat 52 gun derivative.
5. Towed Artillery: We have approximately 3500 various pieces. But the numbers replacing them will be smaller , as more and more artillery units will become motorized. We should be looking at 1800 new guns and 300 M46 upgunned ones.
6. 105mm gun on a mobile platform and 105mm towed units for A & N Amphibious command may be procured too.
I don't think DRDO will leave this that much easily. ATAGS is heavy,but is is one of the best in range. Before ignoring it's wheeled variant completely all together, we should explore options to mount it on a truck capable of taking its weight. Just like how Archer system is developed. Yeas, ATAGS Howitzer is heavier than Bofors gun,so DRDO Howitzer based system weight will be higer. And if K9 weight can be addressed, systems similar weight category of Archer also can be addressed.
The Chinese had unveiled a new mortar system. It looks interesting. We also should develope something similar.
China has unveiled its new 120mm self-propelled mortar
Gunsmiths from the People's Republic of China (PRC) have introduced a new 120mm self-propelled mortar, BulgarianMilitary.com has learned, citing Militarnyi.
bulgarianmilitary.com
DRDO should have worked on a hydraulics version too. Apparently, the backup for the electrical drive sucks.
Bharat 52 is an alternative.
Licence production period for T90 has been extended till 2028. So those extra tanks should come.
Yeah but the entire blame lies on the dalals sitting in army who will most probably also sabotage NGMBT, FICV etc for Russian maal.
SPHs are associated with armoured brigades. Each T-90 armoured brigade consisting of 2 T-90 regiments with 118 tanks requires 1 SPH regiment of 20 guns. Some brigades have 118 and some have 135.
So we have 5 brigades connected to SCs and up to 10 brigades connected to RAPIDs, along with 7 independent brigades. So these are currently a mix of Arjuns, T-72s and T-90s. More brigades are coming up for the Chinese border. So, 22 armoured brigades need 22 regiments of SPH. 300 K9s will give us 15 regiments.
The two Arjun brigades will have 2 regiments of Catapults, which are basically towed guns placed on the Arjun's hull. So the K9s will be spread between T-72s and T-90s. But in time the T-72s will be replaced by FRCV, which will come with its own SPH, so the K9s will have to be transferred to T-90 armoured brigades in the future. But we won't have 15 T-90 armoured brigades for the 15 K9 regiments with the current number of T-90s. If K9s are linked to FRCV instead, then it will defeat the purpose of the FRCV being a UCP, so that can't be done.
We are very likely to go for 450+ more T-90s though, since our license goes up to 2028 whereas we have orders only up to 2024. And if FRCV is delayed, we will need another 450+ T-90s. This will take our T-90 numbers to about 2500. At least 1770 tanks are needed to make 15 armoured brigades at the minimum.
We ultimately want 49 armoured brigades at the highest in different configurations, but that needs to be met by FRCV in the future.
