From ‘dumb’ bombs to bombs with brains, the Indian Army is in the process of filling its inventory with AI-based futuristic ammunition, given their ability to do mid-air course correction for hitting moving targets deep into enemy territory.

The paradigm shift from conventional unguided shells, which are called dumb bombs, to next generation munition is in sync with similar high-value firepower capabilities of global armies, amply demonstrated during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the conflict between Israel and Hamas that has sucked in other countries like Iran and Lebanon as well.

Sharing details of the modernisation plan, Director-General of Artillery, Lt General Adosh Kumar, said on Thursday that a study is on in the Army headquarters to increase scaling of precision-guided munition. The doors of procurement have been opened to private industry, from the previous single agency for acquisition, to increase the vendor base, Lt General Kumar stated.

“We are giving a lot of emphasis on precision-guided as well as terminally-guided ammunition... We are engaged with IITs, of Chennai and Delhi, and are going to sign MoUs with them in next two to three days. We are looking at sensor fuse of munition, course correction fuses, terminally guided munition... Will engage with private vendors and all of them have to come together for capability enhancement...,” Lt General Kumar said on the eve of the 198th anniversary of the Regiment of Artillery.

But, he added, these things take time to mature.

Other than that, the Army is also looking to induct ammunition that operates in GPS-denied environments to foil satellite communication jamming technology, as seen in Israel recently when it used its capability to make ineffective the barrage of rockets fired from Iran.

Aatmanirbhar in ammunitions

The smart ammunition on the shopping list of the Army also includes nubless munition and a proposal to procure it was cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) last year. The DRDO has identified two partners for production of nubless ammunition, Lt General Kumar stated.

Some of the munition contracts may mature in this financial year. He said that the contract for area denial ammunition, which has a dual purpose of being anti-tank and anti-personnel, is expected in this FY.

The Ministry of Defence is not merely pushing for quality upgrade to match global standards, but is keen to make the country aatmanirbhar in ammunitions, as was reported by businessline earlier.

The Army has already started getting loitering ammunition, which are kamikaze drones laden with explosives, in batches, having placed orders for 480 of them from a Nagpur-based company through the Emergency Procurement route.

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The DG Artillery stated that the Army is trying to ramp up the production of ammunition under the Make in India initiative by inviting public and private sectors and addressing supply chain issues, taking lessons from the ongoing global conflicts.

“In October and November, we are going to carry out the trials of different types of 155mm calibre munition and for bio-modular charge system (BMCS),” Kumar said. The BMCS increases the speed of preparation of ammunition for firing and reduces error risk -- another challenge the Army is looking to address in its bid to reduce the time for sight-and-shoot targets to two to three minutes. In that contest, it is also restructuring its SATA units.

Lt General Kumar did not give an insight on the quantity of different categories of ammunition the Artillery would require for prolonged wars, but he stated that Russia is using 10,000 to 15,000 155mm shells per day, while Ukraine is firing 4,000 to 5,000 shells per day. And the war between the two has been on for the last three years.

Together with the smart ammunitions, the Artillery Regiment is enhancing its gun strength, making 155mm the standard calibre, and increasing the firing range potential of machines through AI, which is taking advanced warfare into unchartered territory.

Efforts are on to increase the range of the DRDO developed Pinaka rocket system by up to four or even eight times the current range, Kumar said.

The Artillery Regiment is set to ehance the variety of guns to more than 500. Trials for induction of about 300 Advanced Towed Artillery Guns is complete and the remaining process of bidding may get done by this or next FY, the DG Artillery stated.

Likewise, a repeat order of 100 more K-9 guns has been placed and more regiments of Dhanush, the in-house upgraded version of the Bofors guns, is also being acquired.

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