India's Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System Development Gets Green Signal From Army

The Indian Army has given a go-ahead for the development of Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) by Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) in collaboration with private firms.

The 155mm ATAGS (Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System) is designed by the DRDO’s Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) in Pune. The ATAGS is a 155-mm, 52-calibre towed artillery gun being developed in mission mode for the Army’s artillery modernization program, Army Recognition reported today.

In 2015, proof firing tests of the armament systems were carried out during technical trials in June and September and some initial integrated firing tests were successfully carried out in December.

Indian military officials claim that they were on track to have the first fully integrated gun system for user trials by the Army in the first half of 2017.

The Indian government informed Parliament in November that the gun had several significant features such as an all-electric drive, high mobility, quick deployability, auxiliary power mode, advanced communication system, and automated command and control system. It also boasts a range of 45 km, depending on the type of ammunition used. The gun has to go through a rigorous integration and testing cycle before large-scale induction.

Local sources said that by the present sequence, it could tentatively be inducted in the Army between 2022 to 2024.