Induction of new artillery guns shows promise for indigenous defence firms

Besides imported guns, a bouquet of indigenous guns awaits trials

For the third year running, new artillery guns have featured in the Republic Day parade, signalling that the Army's debilitating shortfall of modern artillery guns — the most effective battlefield weapon since the American Civil War — could soon be alleviated. 

The parade saw the debut of two new artillery guns. One is the Korean-origin K-9 Thunder self-propelled gun, a 155 millimetre (mm), 52-calibre gun that Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is building under licence in its Talegaon plant, near Pune. These guns are mounted on tracked vehicles to keep pace with fast-moving tanks of the strike corps, providing uninterrupted fire