As news of China deploying its PCL-181 howitzers which is a lightweight is a 155 mm wheeled self-propelled howitzer to counter India’s deployment of three regiments of M777 ultra-light howitzers in the region as tension do not seem to ebb with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Indian Army has now added more teeth to its firepower in the eastern sector.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has deployed over 100 long-range PCL-181 light, truck-mounted howitzers along the frontier with India.
As of now, three regiments (18 guns are in a regiment) US-origin M777 ultra-light howitzers has deployed along the LAC as it is easy to airlift from one valley to another using Indian Air Force’s Chinook heavy-lift helicopters.This has been deemed as a force multiplier and the Indian Army is training on how to “going on in moving guns [M777 howitzers] from one sector to another with the Chinook helicopters,” Lieutenant General T K Chawla, Director General Artillery, had said at a press conference on 27 September.
“As the BRO [Border Roads Organisation] further takes the road network to forward areas, we will be able to deploy our guns in more locations,” Lieutenant General Chawla said at the presser.
The army has also deployed the battle-tested Bofors artillery guns in the sector which have been upgraded in recent years to improve their performance and increase their operational life. Also, deployed are the upgraded L-70 air defence guns to deal with drones and other airborne threats.
The L-70 guns have come a long way since to came into service in the 1960s and it has now been been upgraded with an electro-optical fire control system, a video tracking system, a new air defence radar and an electrical servo drive.
“The guns can bring down all unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned combat aerial vehicles, attack helicopters and modern aircraft. The gun has enhanced target acquisition and automatic target tracking capability under all weather conditions with high-resolution electro-optical sensors comprising a daylight television camera, a thermal imaging camera and a laser-range finder,” Captain Sariya Abbasi of the Army Air Defence told journalists during a demonstration in an area close to the LAC.
Also, the indigenously-developed Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers (MBRLs), along with the older, the Russian Smerch MBRLs have also been deployed by the Indian Army in the eastern sector.
“Quick reaction time and higher accuracy of these systems ensure delivery of very high volume of firepower on critical & time-sensitive enemies in a short time,” an army officer, a battery commander, told ANI.
“The Smerch launcher is a very potent weapon in the arsenal of the Indian artillery. It can fire up to the range of 90 kilometer. It can fire 12 rockets in 40 seconds,” another army officer added.
The timely raising of a new aviation brigade based at Missamari in Assam in the eastern sector this year has also proven to be a blessing for our armed forces because it has given its has improved our logistics.The new aviation brigade has three squadrons equipped with advanced light helicopters (ALH), Cheetah helicopters and Heron unmanned aerial vehicles and the weaponised version of the ALH, called Rudra that can be used in anti-tank, scout, fire support, armed reconnaissance and surveillance and escort roles.
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