The Indian Army will soon be equipped with ‘Artillery Gun’ atags’ (with). The government has approved a deal of Rs 7000 crore to promote self -reliance in the country’s defense manufacturing. Officials aware of the case on Thursday said that the Cabinet Committee on Security Affairs, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved a deal of Rs 7,000 crore for locally constructed 307 cannons as well as toing vehicles.
Officials have stated on the condition of anonymity that this ATAGS (Advanced Todd Artillery Gun System) deal also includes 327 toing trucks, paving the way to sign the contract by the end of March. This cannon range of 155 mm/52-caliber is about 48 km. The purchase of new cannons will promote modernization in India and this will also increase the preparation of the Indian Army. Since 2017, the army has included 100 such cannons in its fleet under a $ 720 million contract and many of them have been deployed in the Ladakh sector after upgrading to enable operations in the mountains. The cannons were originally purchased for desert areas.
What is ATAGS Project?
Let us know that DRDO launched the ATAGS project in 2013, which aims to replace the old cannons of the army with a modern 155mm artillery gun system. DRDO has tied up with two private firms, Bharat Forge and Tata Advanced Systems Limited for the construction of the cannon. This order will be divided between the two companies. Bharat Forge, which has emerged as the lowest bidding company for the ATAGS tender, will manufacture and supply 60% cannons. At the same time, the remaining 40 percent of the cannons will be produced by TASL.
Promotion of self -reliance in defense manufacturing sector
Earlier on 1 February, India had set an amount of more than Rs 6.81 lakh crore for the defense budget in the Union Budget. In this, an allocation of Rs 1.8 lakh crore was made for modernization of the army. Army shopping list currently includes several fighter jets, helicopters, warships, submarines, tanks, cannons, drones, rockets and missiles. 75% of modernization budget will be spent on purchasing weapons and equipment from domestic sources to promote self -reliance in defense manufacturing sector. Significantly, a report published by the recently published by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has revealed that India’s arms imports between 2015-19 and 2020-24 have come down by 9.3 per cent.
