Army to test locally made gun that shoots, scoots in 85 secs

The Indian Army is set to conduct trials to assess the performance of a locally made mounted gun system that can shoot and scoot in 85 seconds — a capability that allows the 30-tonne weapon to swiftly relocate and evade counter-battery fire, senior Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) officials said on Monday.

- Rahul Singh

The army has written to the DRDO’s Ahmednagar-based Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (VRDE), asking it to make the mounted gun system (MGS) available for extensive trials in different terrains and weather conditions, VRDE chief GRM Rao said at a briefing on the weapon's capabilities and how it measures up against similar systems in service worldwide, including French Caesar and Israeli ATMOS 2000 systems.

The MGS is a 155mm/52 calibre truck mounted howitzer that can fire six rounds in a minute and hit targets more than 45km away. Here, 155mm denotes the diameter of the shell and calibre relates to barrel length.

The MGS is based on the indigenous advanced towed artillery gun system (ATAGS), already ordered by the defence ministry to boost the army's firepower. In March, the defence ministry signed two contracts worth ₹6,900 crore with Bharat Forge Limited and Tata Advanced Systems Limited for 307 locally made ATAGS along with high mobility towing vehicles.