Indian Army Artillery

Bizarre!

The RFI SMLE .303 had a range of 2,000 yards (1,800 m), as per the rear sight graduations, and were later reduced to 800 m in the RFI SMLE 7.62mm NATO.

Ok now this happens to be one of my favourite threads & has been idle for a while, so something to warm up all u guys ...

As the wait for modern ultralight howitzers gets longer, the Army has apparently decided to arm its two new mountain divisions on the Indo-China border with the old generation 105 light field guns (LFGs).

The Gun Carriage Factory (GCF) at Jabalpur has bagged an order to supply over 150 units of 105-LFGs to the Army over a period of three years starting from May 2010. A source in the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), who was part of the deal, said the order has been hiked on account of increased deployment on the eastern front.
He added that the 155mm ultra light howitzers, which the Army has been scouting for since 2007, would have been the ideal choice as LFGs have now become an obsolete weapon system. The 105 LFGs have a range of 18km while a howitzer covers over double the distance.

A senior official at GCF Jabalpur said that the order was received in 2010 and so far 100 pieces have been delivered. Another 50 are expected to be dispatched this year. The source confirmed that this was the biggest order in the recent past.

The LFG is derived from the 105 Indian field gun (IFG), developed over three decades ago. Experts say that given the changing scenario, howitzers would be a better option than a field gun. However, procurement of the guns has been mired in controversy.

More - Army's new mountain divisions to get light field guns instead of howitzers - Times Of India

Ordnance Factory Board

DENEL is banned right now , as long as DENEL remains banned these TATA gun systems are not going to vie for Indian orders and are only going to be for export, the truck mounted unit is on offer to Indonesia.

Finally...

sir why its rage only 2 k.m.

It shows the direct fire range, not the maximum range for indirect fire.

Although this has been posted before, this piece of news definitely demands space in this thread -
27 years after Bofors, nod for howitzer deal - The Times of India

Something interesting... now that we're purchasing the the M777 howitzer, wonder if something like would be useful for the North East & PAK borders.

M777 Portee
The M777 Portee was developed as a private venture by BAE Systems to meet British Army requirement for LIMAWS or Lightweight Mobile Artillery Weapon System - Gun program. Portee is comprised of a 155mm/39 calibre M777 towed lightweight artillery system and a purpose-built portee 8x6 version of the Supacat high mobility cross country vehicle (HMT 800). The gun is carried on the rear of the vehicle.

In the traveling mode the M777 is carried in the rear part of the chassis, while the ammunition is stowed at the front, between the armored, NBC protected split cab. The howitzer is partially unloaded from the vehicle before firing, on reaching the combat area the howitzer is quickly dismounted an onboard mechanical handling system, allowing it to be towed rapidly into and out of action and up to 3 ammunition containers can be carried in its place.

In the towing mode the M777 Portee can carry a total of 71 rounds.A total of 20 rounds of ammunition are carried. The advantage of such design is that the M777 Portee is more mobile than ordinary towed howitzers. Also when the howitzer is loaded onto the vehicle it can go over terrain, that would trap other towed howitzers. Unique feature of the M777 Portee is that artillery system can be easily removed or attached to the chassis. With the howitzer removed the vehicle acts as an artillery tractor and can carry additional ammunition instead of artillery system.

Cab of the M777 Portee provides light armor protection and NBC protection for the crew. It accommodates the driver plus gun crew.

Vehicle can be carried by the C-130 transport aircraft. Thus it can be carried underslung by two CH-47 Chinook helicopters.

...........

Was trying to upload some pictures from my desktop...wasn't able to so gave up. Here's some pictures for the PORTEE system -
http://www.military-today.com/artillery/m777_portee.htm

Let me try .....

^^^ Hey Thanks... Casper "d friendly ghost". I did figure this out while replying to a post by you, but was too lazy to do it yesterday.

Kaustava,
Firstly we do not have guns.
Now there is some hopes generated, then you want this gun to be flying, climbing, being underslund, overslung, in contaminated areas, firing nuclear bombs, having this funny concoctions etc....
Let us first have the gun and ammunition.... India has its own terrain, requirements and specefic issues. We do not have to carry this gun for expeditionary tasks.
Or do we?

Hi.. the name's Kaustav. Yes.. agreed, we're yet to get the guns .. first ones should arrive by mid June 2013. No I don't have any illusions, an M777 isn't meant to fire nuclear bombs nor will it ever will Not sure how useful the system is from the IA perspective as you mentioned we have our own terrain & specific challenges, just thought it may present an interesting alternative to the regular arty tractor. But yes as of now.. first & foremost we need the guns to arrive pronto.

OMG look at the ground clearance of that truck ...............