In the aftermath of the Kargil War of 1999 India announced its Artillery Rationalisation Programme
India has a 2-front porous border of 7000-odd kms and 4000-odd kms with China and Pakistan respectively.
The operational requirement to fight a 2-front war is 3000-odd artillery guns in addition to aerial weapons, precision-guided weapons, multi-barrel rocket launches etc.
The categories of artillery systems include
Long-range guns of towed variety
Self-propelled guns mounted on a high-mobility vehicle (K9 Vajra)
Light howitzers for difficult mountainous terrains. (M777 howitzers)
Dhanush
1st indigenously produced long-range artillery gun.
The 155mm 45 caliber long-range artillery gun
2 varieties
Towed-variety
Self-propelled mounted gun system variety
6-round magazine.
Capable of firing 60 rounds in 60 minutes.
Maximum firing range of 38 km in the plain areas
K9 Vajra T Guns
South Korean long-range artillery gun in the self-propelled mounted gun category.
It has a range of 28-38 km.
155-mm, 52-calibre
1st ever-artillery gun that will be manufactured by private sector in India with L & T India manufacturing 90 of them.
Capable of ‘burst firing’ meaning which it can fire 3 rounds in 30 seconds
M777 Ultra Light Howitzers
155-mm, 39-calibre towed medium artillery gun.
Maximum range of 30 km.
Light artillery guns with a weight of 4 tonnes
Capable of being air lifted by Chinook helicopters.
Thus M777 can be deployed in mountainous terrains devoid of roads & tracks.
Sharang
Indigenous Artillery Gun
155 mm
Range: Increased from 12 km to 39 km
Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System
155mm, 52-calibre gun-howitzer.
It is capable of firing at both low angle like a gun and high angle like a howitzer
Range: 45 Km
World’s only gun with a six-round automated magazine.
High “burst fire” capability in that it can fire six-round burst in just 30 seconds.
Other features
all-electric drive
high mobility
quick deployability
auxiliary power mode
Automated command and control system
India’s Artillery Combat Command and Control System is named ‘Shakti’
