If I have to chose in between MGS and MArG, I'd definitely go for MGS. Why?
Against 25 km of MArG ( range of ULH), I am getting a buffer zone of 20 km with MGS. So when it comes to range, MGS is a go to weapon of choice for any army.
Again if I want to bring down a volley of shells on top of my enemy, I would again prefer MGS over MArG.
But then again, I am not a military planner. They would consider 10 more aspects on top of firing range and raw power before zeroing on any system.
Now coming to why MArG and MGS would compete on same category. Because they are both Mounted Gun System. Just like the 105 mm Garuda. Now whether IA wants a 52 or 39 cal gun depends on the requirement. If IA finds 39 to be more suitable then 52, there should be an existing option for 39 cal gun. Otherwise here we would cry that why IA is looking at a foreign 39 cal gun. Now I am sure that you would again come up with the question that when Kalyani have guns like Bharat-52 available, why Gen Bipin Rawat asked them specifically for mounted 39 cal instead of 52 caliber.
Let me answer this with a practical ongoing scenario. I have posted a RFI for 105 mm MGS above. Now when we talk about 105mm MGS, what is the picture that comes in our mind?
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Hands down it would be this 99 times out of 100. Kalyani is good at advertising and we have to give them that.
But have you ever thought of any system like this one below?
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This is the same gun on a different vehicle. In both the case, the gun is by OFB. So the performance of the gun is going to be same in both cases. So lets look at the overall system performance seek by user in RFI.
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Now look at point (b) (d) (f) (j) (l) (n). Which system you believe excels in those points? Now there are other specs too where a truck mounted 105 gun beats the Go anywhere vehicle system hands down. So this is the option you always want as a user. When you have to order a 155mm MGS, its always better to have two or three different option to try out. If you don't have a 39 caliber gun, how would you know about its pros and cons over a 52 cal?
Mahindra is license manufacturing M777. So they can't offer a MGS system based on M777. But they are always welcome to manufacture a 155/39 gun based on their learning of M777 manufacturing and may be in future we might see one from their end.
No. Let me carry you through the journey of 155mm gun system of IA.
In 1986, we got our first 155 mm Bofors. Before that we had 130 mm and 105 mm guns. Bofors were used extensively in 1999 Kargil and based on what we had learnt from the war, IA came up with FARP program in which it has been decided that we would move to 155/52 instead of going for more 155/39 caliber. But there was no such indigenous program going on at that time. So the usual way out is to test what foreign OEMs had to offer like IAI, Soltam and others. As the whole system is new for us, we can't go on and make a list of requirement. The only requirement to be listed by us was that it should be of 52 cal. We were not sure what to expect in weight category, muzzle velocity, magazine capacity, firing rate, cylinder capacity et.al as 52 cal is totally new for us.
ATHOS satisfied the user at last when DRDO chipped in with ATAGS. Now IA knows what to expect from a 52 cal gun. They had a baseline model in form of ATHOS. So now the PSQR decided for 155/52 caliber gun was primarily based on ATHOS. The reason why IA stuck with 14 ton weight category. But with ATAGS evolving with time, the PSQR got change which accommodated ATAGS much better then before.
