New Delhi, Sep 27 (UNI) Artillery Director General Lieutenant General Adosh Kumar on Friday said that the combat in the battlefield is growing increasingly intense, therefore the time to strike the target is gradually decreasing.
While it used to take eight to nine minutes to identify and hit the target, now it just takes one to two minutes, he said.
Lieutenant General Adosh Kumar, talking to the media ahead of the 198th Artillery Day on Saturday, said that the Artillery is modernising very fast in view of the needs of the changing times.
He said, “Today, we are modernising at a pace like never before and as per defined timelines. Our modernisation and capability development plan is aligned to ‘Atmanirbharta’ drive and is based on the principle of ‘Modernisation through Indigenisation’. 155 mm will be the standard caliber of all gun systems”, Lt General Kumar said.
When asked about future wars in the context of the war between Russia and Ukraine that has been going on for more than two years, he said that it is difficult to predict as it will depend on the geopolitical situation at that time but it can be said that the future wars will be complex, hybrid, multidomain and of high intensity and fierce.
He said that their horror can be gauged from the fact that ten operations would be going on simultaneously in the battlefield.
The Lt. General said that technology will play an important role in future wars and will be used extensively. The space system will be extensively exploited by the armies and electronic warfare systems will also be an important part of the fight.
He said that apart from this, the outcome of battles will also depend on the success and accuracy of intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance operations. The possibility of using a group of small satellites located in low Earth orbit in the future cannot be ruled out.
The Artillery DG said that now battle has become so intense that the time to hit the target has reduced to one to two minutes, which used to be eight to nine minutes earlier. Now with the use of technology and artificial intelligence, it has become very fast to detect the target and fire on it.
He said that the Indian Army is also using state-of-the-art technology. Presently, armed forces are also working on weapons having ‘Mid Course Correction’ i.e. changing the course of the weapon according to the target after firing.
Lt. General Kumar said that the global supply chain of ammunition has not been significantly affected by the Russia-Ukraine war and Israel-Palestine conflict.
He said that Russia’s annual production of ammunition is very high. Currently, Russia is firing 10,000 to 15,000 shells every day while Ukraine is firing about 4,000 shells.
The DG said that in India too, the capacity to make state-of-the-art ammunition is being continuously increased and for this, cooperation of the private sector is also being taken. The process of purchasing ammunition for the army from private vendors is underway.
Responding to a question, he said that identifying land for new field firing ranges in urban areas is a challenging task but the Army is setting up new firing ranges.
He said that now the Army has built a new firing range near Twang in Arunachal Pradesh. Till now, the army did not have a firing range in high areas and this will benefit the army a lot in future. Land is also being identified for more firing ranges in the northern parts of the country.
Lt General Kumar said that the Army personnel are continuously conducting firing practice and despite denotification of some other firing ranges near Ayodhya, the process of firing practice in the Army has not been affected.
Describing Pinaka Rocket Launcher as a success story of self-reliance in the defense sector, he said that this system has been completely successful and now work is being done to double its striking capability.
He said that a number of 155 mm calibre guns/howitzers have been inducted in the Regiment of Artillery to include Ultra-Light Howitzer (ULH), K-9 Vajra, Dhanush and Sharang. ULH has been deployed on the northern borders. They are lighter in weight and can be carried underslung by helicopters. K-9 Vajra Gun System is ideal for mechanised operations. Dhanush Guns are an electronic upgrade of Bofors Guns, while the Sharang Gun Systems has been up gunned from 130 mm to 155 mm calibre. More numbers of K-9 Vajra, Dhanush and Sharang gun systems will be inducted in near future.
He said the process of inducting other 155 mm gun systems to include Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS), Mounted Gun System (MGS) and Towed Gun System (TGS) is also going on.
The Lt. General further said that to keep the Army ready for all types of wars, the capability of Artillery is being continuously increased so that it can stay ahead of the challenges and threats and face them.
