TIME FOR A STRONGER POWER PUNCH

At a time when the country is increasingly facing a multi-front scenario, it will be prudent to conclude that the Indian Army’s artillery modernisation needs a massive thrust from the incumbent union government, writes AMARTYA SINHA

- AMARTYA SINHA

On October 20, 2019, the Indian Army launched massive artillery barrages across the Line of Control in Northern Kashmir. The targets, located 40-50 km deep inside Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK), consisted of four major terrorist camps along with Pakistani fire support bases and bunkers. The 155mm shells fired from Bofors Haubits FH-77 and Dhanush howitzers scored deadly and accurate hits on the pre-designated high-value targets, thus blowing dozens of Islamic terrorists and Pakistani soldiers to the smithereens.

The successful fire assault which set a new normal in the strategic equations of South Asia, was also a stern warning to Pakistan that if the floundering Islamic state doesn’t restrain itself from sending jihadi terrorists across the border, there may be a significant escalation in the number of heavy cross-border fire assaults by India. The mobilisation of 155mm heavy artillery guns along with very high-calibre 214mm Pinaka and 300mm BM-30 Smerch multi-barrel rocket launchers (MBRL) on the border carried a clear message to the corridors of power in Islamabad that India was ready to up the ante at a very short notice, in case of further provocations by Pakistani Army and non-state actors sitting across the LoC.

While heavy machinegun engagements, mortar bombardment and usage of ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles) for strafing border posts and bunkers have been very frequent since the NDA-2 government took over in 2014, heavy cross-border artillery exchanges were a rarity since the end of the 1971 India-Pakistan war. But with tremendous improvements in navigation and guidance systems of artillery shells and missiles in the last two decades, India has now developed the capability to hit pre-designated targets with tremendous precision thus minimising civilian casualties on the other side of the fence.