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| Indian Army Bofors Gun PHOTO via IBTimes |
A month before the Tata Power Strategic Electronic Division unveiled what was heralded as India’s first ‘indigenous’ artillery gun, the company was among 14 Indian firms that sat across the table with DRDO officials at a three-day brainstorming session in Pune between October 29-31 on the latter’s proposed 155mm/52cal advanced towed artillery gun system (ATAGS, since they love their long acronyms).
The four Indian private sector companies that held ‘system level interactions’ were Tata Power SED, Larsen & Toubro, Bharat Forge Ltd and Mahindra Defence Systems, BHEL along with state-owned BHEL and BEL. Eight private firms that held ‘sub-system level interactions’ were Dantal Hydraulics, Starwine India Ltd, PSPL, Avasarala Technologies, Accurate Engineering, HBL Power Systems Ltd., Moog Inc and System Controls Ltd.
According to DRDO, the 155mm gun it plans to develop at the Armament Research & Development Establishment (ARDE) in Pune, “Improved firepower to achieve first salvo effectiveness at longer ranges, higher accuracy and enhanced survivability are the primary requirements for this gun system. Efforts are being made to develop new technologies for weapon platforms, automation and control systems, recoil management, materials, etc., to achieve improved weapon performance.”
The DRDO labs that propose to be part of the gun development include the Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE), Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (VRDE), Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) and DRDO HQ in Delhi.
will it come to just another… biryani conclave only… stomach full… head (brain) empty… conclave…
Haha.. True..
An impoverished country like India should not spend billions on Defense.It's only a matter of time before india splits on caste & community lines . A divided India will be a safer & prosperous place.US & NATO should assist in this division.
Take back your KFCs, coca cola, mcdonalds and other money hungry multinationals…
Talk, Talk, Talk, Talk, Talk, Talk, Talk.
@12:52 PM
seems doesn't know indian history, past 10,000 years she's been at it, spliting, spliting, spliting… and sponsored two world wars… on her own blood (soldiers) and sweat (farmers)… and left with 1.2 billion… and feeding them…
Why duplicate the efforts when TATA has already displayed their towed 155mm/52 cal.beast.Give the order to them or work with them so the product comes to Indian Army sooner rather then spend time in developement cycle and then,as with other DRDO project it will get mothballed.
The MoD must now come forward to support the initiative of Tata Power SED. There might be some niggling issues with the artillery gun produced by Tata, but whatever it may be, the effort needs to be acknowledged and supported. After all, every Chinese defence equipment is far inferior to every single comparable western equipment, but they have stuck to their own efforts and are now are independent of foreign sources. We need to encourage our own indigenous defence maufacturing capability so that over time it matures and we improve our own technology.
Anon@4:50PM
We should "duplicate" because that creates competition and competition leads to innovation. Also, TATA product is most-likely a cut and paste effort rather than true indigenous product. TATA may have just licensed the tech and assembled it at home. The duplication that you are referring to is probably a true home made product vs. what TATA seems to have put out. But, I do agree with you, if the TATA products works, we should support that effort as well until the home-made stuff is ready for a true comparision. Hopefully by that time TATA will have made something on their own as well.
@Lori from little Nashville Tennessee, why don't you go read your Bible like a good Christian girl. Don't sweat the complicated stuff in the the world. Obviously it's not your forte. The day Indians will need "assistance" from y'all Rednecks on strategic matters I will accept Jesus as my savior I promise.
@Lori from little Nashville Tennessee, why don't you go read your Bible like a good Christian girl. Don't sweat the complicated stuff in the the world. Obviously it's not your forte. The day Indians will need "assistance" from y'all Rednecks on strategic matters I will accept Jesus as my savior I promise.
The TATA effort is far better than anything that the DRDO or OFB have come up with. TATA has done a very clean job of integrating the gun with its Truck mount.Very different to the crude and almost primitive 105mm Truck Gun Mount that OFB had come up with.
At least they have a time line and a set target in mind.The OFB and DRDO simply float proposals ,promise and deliver little if anything at all in most cases.
DRDO has taken the right step now.
Instead of enlisting moribund PSU manufacturers like BEML, OFB, HAL etc. it has enlisted private players, who will undoubtedly be far more efficient than these PSU mass manufacturers.
But more importantly, this step from DRDO will actually prevent a major disaster too.
What is it ?
DRDO's step will prevent private players from copy-pasting foreign made products, and hawking them to the armed forces. As it is, the Godrejs and TATAs have zero experience in building tanks, submarine sand fighter jets.
So, they were looking to buy designs from abroad in thinly veiled "joint ventures", stick their own label on it and peddle it to the armed forces. This in effect would've been no different from HAL or BEML importing foreign designs and assembling them under license (the only difference being that this time the private players would be doing it).
DRDO has now nipped the foreign players from snagging the Indian private sector. Simultaneously, it has also gotten rid of the slowness and callousness of PSU firms like HAL and BEML by leveraging with the efficiency of the Indian private sector.
Talk about hitting 2 birds with one stone. Go DRDO !
How so efficiently they manage to start the timeline of a product R&D at the juncture of time frame by which the product should have been sold and the money pocketed.
DRDO is like garajte badal, pata nahi kab barsenge!! Saraswat should be prohibited to keep day-dreaming, and start implementing on what he has said so far, rather than living in a fantasy land!!
I am amused by Ms/Mr. Lori G , which happens to be a copy of Mr. Zaid Hamid philosophy. That genius is being called ZAHIL(an extreme moron) by a lot of Pakistanis. Are you sure you are not one of those Pakistanis who worship him.
Anyway yours is wishful thinking.
If wishes were horses you would ride them.
@Lori: Some bankers from your USA suggest that its only a matter of time when this "impoverished" India becomes the largest economy in the world. Every single American who is of any credibility wants to have more "strategic" relations with India. Americans are becoming the largest non-Indian, non-subconitnent group who are trying to get jobs in Indian companies in India. Please dont go around vomiting shit when you dont know the facts.
Every-time someone builds something, DRDO wants their stamp on it. I won,t be surprised if tomorrow Tata made gun comes out as DRDO developed indigenous gun.
Tata gun is differed 1) It is just a Denel gun mated to Tata truck with Denel's help. That is a self propelled Howitzer.
This is a towed gun with all technical data, TOT from Bofors available. It just needs serial production under strict quality control. Private players would be more efficient, will deliver it quickly without budget overruns.
Give a private player a fixed price contract. They get paid on delivery, penalties for any delays. Any public sector company would mean poor quality, long delays, and budget overruns. No brainer, they never miss an opportunity to disappoint.
I think the Tata's should be allowed to prove their gun by field tests by the Indian Army. Doesn't matter if it is copied or not. If it can fire like hell, then sure why not accept it as the mainstay artillery gun. If Tata SED can ramp up production and provide guns within the next 3-5 years…I'd be happy with copy paste.
And Lori from Nashville, TN or Lori from Lahore, Pakistan?
hurry hurry this is party time
No one realized something few years ago we did not have much options in cannons now all of a sudden we have 4 local companies (not matter how they have acquired the knowledge)are offering us cannons. They should be tested and faults should be cleared if time comes our forces will have enough cannons to pound the enemy
It always good to have something rather than nothing….
I mean waiting 1/4 of a century is really a long wait..
Lori seems to be some Paki hallucinating on hemp. Amused me to read the frustrations expressed and kind solutions to make India a happy place.