The Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) is a towed 155 mm/52 calibre howitzer that is being developed for the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...

Armament Research and Development Establishment The Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) is a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). Located in Pune, it is the main DRDO lab involved in the development of conventional armaments. History A ...

(ARDE),

Tata Advanced Systems Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) is an Indian aerospace manufacturer, aerospace, military, defense, military, military engineering & construction and technology company. It is a fully owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, a holding company for the ...

and Kalyani Strategic Systems. Bharat Forge,

Tata Power SED Tata Power SED (Tata Power Strategic Engineering Division) is an Indian defence manufacturing company and a part of the Tata Group. It was a unit of Tata Power until 2020, when Tata Advanced Systems acquired it from Tata Power. It was formerly ...

and Advanced Weapons and Equipment India are manufacturing partners.

Development

The Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) project was started in 2013 by DRDO to replace older guns in service in the

with a modern 155mm artillery gun. DRDO laboratory

(ARDE) partnered with private players Bharat Forge, Mahindra Defence Naval System,

and public sector unit Advanced Weapons and Equipment India for this purpose. With ARDE as the nodal laboratory, development is being assisted by Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE), Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (VRDE), Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE), Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), and Defence Electronics Applications Laboratory (DEAL). It was part of the Development cum Production Partner programme (DCPP) of DRDO. The development of the gun took about 4 years and is expected to be complete by March 2017. The delay in completion of the project was attributed to realization of ordnance and recoil system and supply issue with manufacturing of sub-systems. The gun is expected to start user trials in 2017 and production is expected to start in 2019. It was first publicly showcased at 68th Republic Day parade on 26 January 2017. For the first time, an indigenously developed howitzer gun, the ATAGS was included in the 21 gun salute alongside the British origin 25-pounder as part of the 76th Independence day celebrations. Two howitzer were included in the battery that fired the 21 gun salute. ATAGS is being fast-tracked by Indian Army for induction as of 27 September 2022.

Design

The gun consists of a barrel, breech mechanism,

muzzle brake A muzzle brake or recoil compensator is a device connected to, or a feature integral to the construction of, the muzzle or barrel of a firearm or cannon that is intended to redirect a portion of propellant gases to counter recoil and unwanted ...

and recoil mechanism to fire 155 mm calibre ammunition with a firing range of 48 km. It has an all-electric drive to ensure reliability and minimum maintenance over a long period of time. It has advanced features like high mobility, quick deployability, auxiliary power mode, advanced communication system, automatic command and control system with night capability in direct-fire mode. The gun is two tons lighter than guns in the same category and is designed to provide better accuracy and range and is capable of firing five successive rounds in short duration. It is compatible with C3I systems like Artillery Combat Command and Control System (ACCCS) called Shakti for technical fire control, fire planning, deployment management, operational logistics management of the

Ramjet Propelled Artillery Shell

IIT Madras Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has b ...

along with

IIT Kanpur The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) Hindi: भारतीय प्रौद्योगिकी संस्थान कानपुर) is a public institute of technology located in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was ...

, ARDE and

Research Centre Imarat Research Centre Imarat (RCI) is a DRDO laboratory located in Hyderabad, Telangana. The lab is responsible for Research and Development of Missile Systems, Guided Weapons and advanced Avionics for Indian Armed Forces. It was established by APJ Ab ...

(RCI) are working on redesigning an existing 155 mm shell using

ramjet A ramjet, or athodyd (aero thermodynamic duct), is a form of airbreathing jet engine that uses the forward motion of the engine to produce thrust. Since it produces no thrust when stationary (no ram air) ramjet-powered vehicles require an as ...

propulsion that can cover 60 km+ range. It will be made compatible with ATAGS. The shell will use precision guidance kit for trajectory correction. IIT Madras will ensure that

Munitions India Munitions India Limited (MIL) is an Indian state-owned defence company, headquartered in Pune, India established in 2021 as part of the restructuring and corporatisation of the Ordnance Factory Board into seven different Public Sector Undertaki ...

can manufacture the shells.

Trials

*DRDO conducted the proof firing of armament for the 155/52 calibre Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System on 14 July 2016. The test was successful. *Fully integrated, 155-millimeter artillery gun fired its first rounds of live ammunition at the Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE) in Balasore, Odisha on 14 December 2016. *During trials in 2017, ATAGS broke the then world record for 155 mm/52 calibre gun by firing the round to a distance of 47.2 kilometres. It again registered a maximum distance of 48.074 kilometres with high explosive–base bleed (HE–BB) ammunition, surpassing the maximum ranges fired by any artillery gun system in this category. This has since been surpassed by

M777 The M777 howitzer is a British towed 155 mm artillery piece in the howitzer class. It is used by the ground forces of Australia, Canada, Colombia, India, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, and the United States. It was first used in combat during the US ...

and later M1299 under US Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) program using 58 caliber long barrel, and XM1113 rocket-assisted artillery shell. *The gun successfully completed trials and the manufacturing of first lot of 40 guns is to start soon. *The gun underwent user trials in September 2020 and suffered a major setback with a barrel burst injuring four personnel. Investigations are on to ascertain and solve the problem and in November 2020, after an investigation the gun was cleared for further trials *In June 2021, ATAGS successfully completed trials at altitude. *On May 2, 2022, the ATAGS successfully completed all field trials, paving way for induction into Army.

Users

- In August 2018, the Defence Acquisition Council approved the procurement of 150 ATAGS with an estimated cost of . The order will be split into lowest and second lowest bidder in 70:30 ratio to increase production rate.

References