60% of the contract, which involves 307 howitzers and 327 towing vehicles, will go to Bharat Forge, which emerged as lowest bidder, and 40% to Tata Advanced Systems.
New Delhi: About eight years after it was first showcased at the Republic Day parade and 12 years after development started, the Union Defence Ministry is set to ink a nearly Rs 7,000 crore deal for 307 indigenous Advanced Towed Artillery Gun Systems (ATAGS) next week.
Sources in the defence establishment said the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) cleared the deal Wednesday evening.
This has paved the way for the formal signing of the contract with two private Indian companies—Bharat Forge of the Kalyani Group and Tata Advanced Systems—which are the development partners for Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Sources said that 60 percent of the contract, which involves a total of 307 howitzers and 327 towing vehicles, will go to Bharat Forge, which emerged as the Lowest Bidder (L1) and 40 percent to the Tatas.
ThePrint had in November last year reported that Bharat Forge had emerged as the L1 and the contract negotiations had started.
The ATAGS programme has seen a long development cycle which began in 2013, primarily due to protracted trials by the Indian Army.
The full-fledged version of the gun was unveiled in 2016 but it was only in 2020 that the winter trials were completed in Sikkim and the desert trials were completed the next year.
The gun kept undergoing longer trials and fine tuning based on the Army’s requirements after each firing and mobility round.
As reported by ThePrint in 2021, one of the most significant achievements during the second phase of PSQR (weapons procurement and qualitative requirements) winter trials was moving the guns to the northern-most point of operational area (Lukrep) in the plateau areas of north Sikkim.
Movement to Lukrep meant covering 341 kilometres and the gun was tested over 10 days.
ATAGS could negotiate the otherwise inaccessible mountainous terrain with steep gradient and narrow hairpin bends with ease, without needing to unhook the gun from the tower. In similar terrain, other systems need to be unhooked and moved in self-propelled mode, thereby increasing the overall travel time.
The total distance travelled by the ATAGS in mountains and high altitude was 526 km as against 23 km mobility test done for foreign guns as part of the Army’s attempts to procure a towed gun system from abroad.
The Army’s contention was that ATAGS was a very heavy gun and they needed a lighter one for mountainous deployment.
The foreign guns that were competing were Nexter of France and ATHOS of Israel’s Elbit Systems.
A second concern that the Army had with ATAGS besides the weight was what they said was the “inability of the gun” system to meet the critical performance parameters, especially with regard to rates of fire.
However, ATAGS programme sources had then countered the Army’s assertion saying that the rate of fire includes burst firing of five rounds in one minute, intense firing of 10 rounds in two-and-a-half minutes and a sustained rate of 60 rounds in 60 minutes.
In comparison, Elbit Systems claims ATHOS can fire three rounds in 30 seconds, 12 rounds in three minutes, and 42 rounds in 60 minutes.
The third concern expressed was a September 2020 accident during internal validation trials of ATAGS in a firing range. The barrel of the gun burst while firing a round.
Sources had said the barrel burst was caused not by an engineering defect but faulty ammunition manufactured by the then Ordnance Factory Board.
Incidentally, the cost is also a factor. While the ATHOS will cost less than Rs 11 crore per piece, the ATAGS is said to be costing anywhere between Rs 16 and Rs 18 crore.
Army wants new towed gun system
One area where the ATAGS outguns other systems is the range. The ATAGS’ range with Extended Range Sub-Bore Boat Tail (ERFB BT) ammunition is 35 km and with ERFB BB (Base Bleed) ammunition is 45 km. The ATAGS actually fired at a range of 47 km in 2017.
However, it will not be ATAGS but the new 155 mm/52 Calibre Towed Gun System (TGS) that’s earmarked to be the mainstay gun of the artillery in the future, ThePrint has reported.
The TGS is meant to weigh less than 15 tonne as against the over 18 tonne of the ATAGS.
The Army is looking at acquiring 400 TGS which can operate in all terrain—mountainous, plains, high altitude, desert and semi-desert.
