Indian Army To Conduct Winter Use Trials For Indigenously Developed ATAGS Howitzers

The Indian Army will put the indigenously-developed advanced towed artillery gun system (ATAGS) through a “winter use trials” in January-February in Sikkim, Economics Times reports.

The ATAGS can possibly fulfil the force’s requirement for 1,580 such guns costing more than Rs 25,000 crore provided it passes the trials. However, the weapons will have to further undergo “mobility trials” and “summer trials” in May-June prior to its possible induction.

The user trials for the domestically produced ATAGS had stalled in September this year as one of the guns had burst during the tests at the Pokhran field firing range in Rajasthan.

Moreover, a senior DRDO official clarified, “It was most probably due to defective ammunition. There was no issue with the barrel. Over 2,000 rounds have already been successfully test-fired from the ATAGS during high-altitude trials in Sikkim and then in Pokhran.” The strike range of the ATAGS is as high as 48 km, and seasoned DRDO scientist Shailendra V Gade even described these howitzers as the best gun in the world.

“Further tests are currently underway at the Proof and Experimental Establishment range at Balasore. Why should the Army import such guns if a much better indigenous option with a longer 48-km range is available? Other contemporary guns have a 40 to 45-km range,”

The new weapon has an ‘all-electric drive technology’ and will ensure maintenance free and reliable operations for a long stretch of time. It fires five-round bursts in comparison to the three-round bursts of its foreign contemporaries and is said to have supreme accuracy, consistency, reliability, automation and mobility.