Defence ministry inks mega Rs 6,900 crore deal for indigenous heavy-duty artillery guns

NEW DELHI: The defence ministry on Wednesday inked the around Rs 6,900 crore contract for production of 307 advanced towed artillery gun systems (ATAGS) and 327 high mobility 6x6 gun-towing vehicles with private sector companies Bharat Forge and Tata Advanced Systems, in the first-ever deal for such indigenous heavy-duty howitzers.

With the signing of the deal for the 155mm/52-calibre ATAGS designed and developed by DRDO, the total value of capital procurement contracts inked by MoD in the ongoing fiscal stands at Rs 1.4 lakh crore. The PM-led cabinet committee on security had cleared the ATAGS deal on March 19, as was first reported by TOI.

Defence secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh felicitated the project director of ATAGS -- which has a strike range of up to 45-km depending on the ammunition -- from DRDO’s Pune-based Armament Research and Development Establishment during the ceremony on Wednesday.

“The procurement of this gun system marks a significant milestone in the modernization of the Army’s artillery regiments, enhancing their operational readiness along the borders with China and Pakistan. Renowned for its exceptional lethality, the ATAGS will play a crucial role in bolstering the Army's firepower by enabling precise and long-range strikes,” an official said.

Bharat Forge will manufacture 60% of the guns because it had emerged as the L-1 (lowest bidder), while Tata will produce the remaining 40%. “ATAGS will replace outdated 105mm and 130mm guns. Over 65% of its components are sourced domestically, including key subsystems such as the barrel, muzzle brake, breech mechanism, firing and recoil system, and ammunition handling mechanism,” another official said.

Officers say ATAGS have “excellent” accuracy, consistency, mobility, reliability and automation, longer maintenance-free reliable operations due to their “all-electric drive technology”, and can fire five-round bursts as compared to three-round bursts by other contemporary foreign guns.

The ATAGS, whose development began in 2013, has undergone a series of protracted field trials over the years. Finally, in 2021-22, the winter trials were successfully completed at high-altitude areas in Sikkim, which were followed by summer user-firing tests at the Pokhran field firing ranges.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has again driven home the operational utility of long-range, high-volume firepower. Consequently, the Army is progressively stepping up induction of howitzers, missiles, rocket systems and loiter munitions, as reported by TOI earlier.

In Dec, for instance, the defence ministry inked a Rs 7,629 crore contract with L&T in collaboration with South Korean Hanwha Defence for the procurement of another 100 K-9 Vajra-T self-propelled tracked gun systems, which have a strike range of 28-38 km and can be deployed in high-altitude areas along the frontier with China.

Then in Feb, the MoD inked contracts worth Rs 10,147 crore for high-explosive pre-fragmented extended rockets (45-km range) and area denial munitions (37-km) for the indigenous Pinaka multi-launch artillery rocket systems being inducted by the Army. Pinaka, too, is being exported to other countries.

India has grappled with recurring scandals in import of artillery guns, from the Swedish Bofors in the mid-1980s to the South African Denel in 2005 and Singapore Technology Kinetics in 2009, repeatedly derailing the Army's modernization drive.