Artillery: News & Discussion

sudeepj · Post by **sudeepj** » 05 Feb 2017 23:05

Bala Vignesh wrote:Maafi Hakeem saab,
Just asking that to see if there was something that had to be redone/gone wrong in the third shot before the gun fired?? And if others noticed something that I didn't.. No disrespect to the gun crew and the product meant..

Three projectiles are stored on a ready tray on the gun, but the propellant charges are still 'hand fed' to the beast. My guess is, because the propellant is highly unstable compared to the projectiles and because it weighs much less than the 40 kg projectiles. There is a human element in loading the charges and that causes the time variation.

abhik · Post by **abhik** » 05 Feb 2017 23:29

Sid wrote:
Indranil wrote: Is there anyway to ascertain that this is Dhanush and not the Bofors?
Yes, it has a distinctive muzzle velocity radar placed on top of barrel which original bofors does not have.

I think you can also make out the longer barrel.

pravula · Post by **pravula** » 05 Feb 2017 23:51

sudeepj wrote:
Bala Vignesh wrote:Maafi Hakeem saab,
Just asking that to see if there was something that had to be redone/gone wrong in the third shot before the gun fired?? And if others noticed something that I didn't.. No disrespect to the gun crew and the product meant..
Three projectiles are stored on a ready tray on the gun, but the propellant charges are still 'hand fed' to the beast. My guess is, because the propellant is highly unstable compared to the projectiles and because it weighs much less than the 40 kg projectiles. There is a human element in loading the charges and that causes the time variation.

AdityaM is correct. You can see the cartridge being flipped before the third shot.

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 06 Feb 2017 10:25

Bala Vignesh wrote:Maafi Hakeem saab,
Just asking that to see if there was something that had to be redone/gone wrong in the third shot before the gun fired?? And if others noticed something that I didn't.. No disrespect to the gun crew and the product meant..

your observation is correct - the charge, which propels the round, was put upside down and this had to be corrected.

Sid · Post by **Sid** » 06 Feb 2017 11:09

^^as per other Fh77B live fire demos, a round is not fired until a new charge bag is not placed for the next round. But in this video round a fired while soldier was still in process of placing it.

Second issue seems to be with the charge bag itself, as igniter pads on charge bags are colored (red) so that people know which side is up. But this charge bag looked a bit different, as both ends looked white.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 06 Feb 2017 11:59

even after all these years, its a compact, brilliant and functional design. it never really aged. the G5 looks in its original SA model looked kind of large, and unrefined in comparison, granted its huge range.

Bala Vignesh · Post by **Bala Vignesh** » 06 Feb 2017 12:42

AdityaM wrote: Looks like the round was kept upside down and had to be uprighted

pravula wrote: AdityaM is correct. You can see the cartridge being flipped before the third shot.

rohitvats wrote: your observation is correct - the charge, which propels the round, was put upside down and this had to be corrected.

Thank you for pointing it out, everyone. I must have missed it due to the smaller screen on a mobile.

Chinmay · Post by **Chinmay** » 13 Feb 2017 13:50

http://www.bloombergquint.com/business/ ... ys-am-naik

A Rs 4,600-crore order for field guns is expected by next month-end, Naik told BloombergQuint’s Menaka Doshi. L&T has tied up with Korea’s Samsung Techwin to supply self-propelled, tracked howitzers to the army

Is L&T also involved in field gun upgrade? Or DDM mixing up tracked howitzer and field gun?

vaibhav.n · Post by **vaibhav.n** » 13 Feb 2017 16:34

Dhanush troop deployment

Mountain trials

Dhanush firing sequence close-up

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 27 Feb 2017 09:04

$750 mn deal: Indian Army to get 2 BAE Systems’ M777 ULH howitzer guns in June
http://www.financialexpress.com/india-n ... ne/565814/

BAE Systems will be delivering two out of 145 M777 155mm/39-calibre ultra lightweight howitzer (ULH) guns in June, for the army to carry out a few tests with Indian ammunition.

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 27 Feb 2017 09:05

Indigenous towed artillery now in advanced stage of trials
http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/ban ... 326853.ece

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 04 Mar 2017 22:05

130mm ammo is sitting duck as special steel boxes not delivered yet
https://twitter.com/ChethanKumarTOI/sta ... 1804656640

Indranil · Post by **Indranil** » 17 Mar 2017 23:12

Details of ATAGS:

World beating specs:
chamber: 27 litres, Firing pressure:560 MPA (highest by any artillery gun in the world).

APU is from Cummins, Puna. Everything else other than the FCS is from Bharat-Forge.
The tests were a runaway success. They completed everything in 5 hours instead of the stipulated 5 days (everything went right in the first step itself)

More details:
1. Ultra light howitzer: coming in July

Thakur_B · Post by **Thakur_B** » 18 Mar 2017 09:59

^^ with these kind of specs, ATAGS should break all kinds of artillery records. Also desi ultra light howitzer, damn, Arde is on a rampage. Now if only they are able to do the same with small arms.

Marten · Post by **Marten** » 18 Mar 2017 10:23

The real surprise is that Baba Kalyani has not taken up small arms or decided on a tie-up. He is of course far more familiar with the IA than we are.

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 18 Mar 2017 13:00

^^^Now pray that Mounted Gun System (MGS) is developed in-house and not imported. First, adapt the Dhanush to MGS system and induct it in parallel with the towed gun. In case of ATAGS, start a parallel program with for mounted ATAGS and get it into service along with towed ATAGS.

As for ULWH, limit induction of M-777 to present number if the timeline for development is not too far off. Domestic ULWH would make wonderful replacement for IFG and LFG (wherever required). They should also look at more advanced 105mm gun for mountains.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Mar 2017 13:29

I used to think 25ltr chamber a holy grail..27ltr is a borderline naval system lol. This thing can put a lot of heat on target.

We need 1000s not 100s. Even the paramils fighting in central india should have some firebases to dominate circles of territory and strike camps located by drones. My school friend is in one such unit. Nothing like a salvo of 155mm on a jungle camp to ruin ones day

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Mar 2017 13:30

All these new guns should come with a 20 rd magazine like bofors archer. Speeds up rapid fire shoot n scoot missions.

abhik · Post by **abhik** » 18 Mar 2017 13:56

Singha wrote:I used to think 25ltr chamber a holy grail..27ltr is a borderline naval system lol. This thing can put a lot of heat on target.
...

They recently tested a 55 cal barrel on the M777

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Mar 2017 14:19

M777 cannot be our route. We lacl donestic titanium reserve and metallurgy while p2 have a lot. Russis even made some subs out of it.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 18 Mar 2017 17:24

Singha wrote:M777 cannot be our route. We lacl donestic titanium reserve and metallurgy while p2 have a lot. Russis even made some subs out of it.

India has huge Titanium reserves. I think Titanium is a difficult metal to work with and form into anything useful

tushar_m · Post by **tushar_m** » 18 Mar 2017 17:58

Bharat Forge Ultra Light howitzer will weight about 4500kg & will be ready for engineering trials in june this year.(idrw)

In comparison M777 weights about 4200kgs & few will be available to Indian Army this year. What will be the cost difference between the desi & gora light howitzer will tell a story that we will discuss in this thread for a long time.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 18 Mar 2017 19:50

shiv wrote:
Singha wrote:M777 cannot be our route. We lacl donestic titanium reserve and metallurgy while p2 have a lot. Russis even made some subs out of it.
India has huge Titanium reserves. I think Titanium is a difficult metal to work with and form into anything useful

http://www.drdo.gov.in/drdo/pub/techfoc ... 7/tech.htm

India has enough Titanium reserves. We lacked tech to extract it. We do now. The Kerala plant churns out 500MT of the stuff/year and is 'considering' increasing production to 1000MT. Interestingly TiO2 is also used for paints and we import that stuff by the tons from all sorts of places adding to our forex problem. Ti machining I think we've got a hold on. Midhani's stall had a few samples of machined Ti items.

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 19 Mar 2017 04:52

India close to exporting Bofors artillery shells to the UAE
http://defencenews.in/article/India-clo ... UAE-251029

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 19 Mar 2017 05:05

Coming up Desi 155mm/39 ULRH to compliment M777 howitzer in Indian Army
http://idrw.org/coming-desi-155mm39-ult ... dian-army/

Indranil · Post by **Indranil** » 19 Mar 2017 06:14

I am kind of sure now that people from IDRW scan BRF and then write up a "news".

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 19 Mar 2017 11:23

I wanted a thread to track articles based on BRF discussions.

abhik · Post by **abhik** » 19 Mar 2017 11:40

Indranil wrote:I am kind of sure now that people from IDRW scan BRF and then write up a "news".

Next time you post the image of a scoop I would suggest putting some subtle marker/alteration on the image (not something obvious like a watermark - but hidden in plain sight), and see if idrw nooz netwark takes the bait.

Rakesh · Post by **Rakesh** » 23 Mar 2017 09:44

Swati radar could be a game changer at the LoC
http://www.indiandefencereview.com/news ... t-the-loc/

Manish_P · Post by **Manish_P** » 23 Mar 2017 17:45

The American Flycatcher Radar we had up till now proved to be ineffective for the Army.

Any idea what were the possible causes ?

Were the trials not exhaustive ? Or was this found out only later...

Aditya_V · Post by **Aditya_V** » 23 Mar 2017 18:17

Manish_P wrote:
The American Flycatcher Radar we had up till now proved to be ineffective for the Army.
Any idea what were the possible causes ?

Were the trials not exhaustive ? Or was this found out only later...

There was no trial, it was an off the shelf panic purchase after Kargil and how effective Pakistani anti artillery radar was in Kargil and how it caused the most casualties.

pandyan · Post by **pandyan** » 23 Mar 2017 18:40

How come the same/similar radar on pakistani side worked so well? Both were supplied by US Right?

srai · Post by **srai** » 23 Mar 2017 19:15

^^^

Firefinder radar not Flycatcher.

I think the IA had issues with shortage of spare parts from what I vaguely remember.

brar_w · Post by **brar_w** » 23 Mar 2017 20:18

The AN/TPQ-36 is a legacy system (origins in the 70s) which is now past its prime. Even in the US services it has been (or is being) replaced by the AN/TPQ-53 on the Army side and AN/TPS-80 on the Marine Corps side (both AESAs, -53 GaAs and -80 GaN).

Manish_P · Post by **Manish_P** » 23 Mar 2017 21:58

From the link of the AN/TPQ-53

This is a new generation of counterfire sensor with the flexibility to adapt to uncooperative adversaries and changing missions.

Yea i am sure that sometimes the adversaries will be uncooperative

Hey, maybe that's why the AN/TPQ-36 didn't work so well for us.. the Pakis were not being cooperative

Gagan · Post by **Gagan** » 23 Mar 2017 23:24

Baba Kalyani is going to make Jet engines!
He is sending his initial chota engine out for testing - a 25 kg output.
He is planning a 1000kg output helo engine - that is close to what the Dhruv Shakti is like. he says lead time of about 5 years

Khalsa · Post by **Khalsa** » 24 Mar 2017 00:27

ramana wrote:I wanted a thread to track articles based on BRF discussions.

Saar.
Is there one yet ?
Not a bad idea.

brar_w · Post by **brar_w** » 24 Mar 2017 00:39

Manish_P wrote:From the link of the AN/TPQ-53

This is a new generation of counterfire sensor with the flexibility to adapt to uncooperative adversaries and changing missions.

Yea i am sure that sometimes the adversaries will be uncooperative

Hey, maybe that's why the AN/TPQ-36 didn't work so well for us.. the Pakis were not being cooperative

It refers to its ability to switch very rapidly from sectored coverage to 360 degree coverage which was one drawback of the AN/TPQ-36. The changing mission portion is the layering of additional missions through software upgrade and increase in the power supply (generator bump). It is going to be one of the sensors in the IFPC node as for the Counter UAV mission which would be layered on top of the CRAM role it currently performs so the same radar sets can switch and perform missions as and when required.

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 24 Mar 2017 10:18

Manish_P wrote:
The American Flycatcher Radar we had up till now proved to be ineffective for the Army.
Any idea what were the possible causes ?

Were the trials not exhaustive ? Or was this found out only later...

Well, whoever wrote the above needs to get his/her facts correct. Flycatcher radar is a an Air Defense (AD) Fire Control Radar (FCR). Indian Army uses these in their L-70 guns equipped AD Regiments. Each radar manages 3 x L-70 guns.

And it is an exceptional radar. The AD guys swear by it.

rohitvats · Post by **rohitvats** » 24 Mar 2017 10:20

Aditya_V wrote: There was no trial, it was an off the shelf panic purchase after Kargil and how effective Pakistani anti artillery radar was in Kargil and how it caused the most casualties.

It was not a panic purchase.

The purchase of WLR from US was mooted by the army BEFORE the Kargil war. DRDO vetoed the import stating that a domestic solution can be developed in a short time-frame. Which never saw the light of the day for many-many years later. And this meant IA was without any WLR during Kargil.