Rebirth of Catapult artillery system with Arjun Chassis

[HK Indian MBT]

In unusual twist of events and as per latest media reports, Indian Army plans to bring back M46 howitzers mounted on Vijayanta tank chassis (originally the Vickers MBT) back to life. Indian army will soon place orders for 40 Arjun chassis to be used for mounting Soviet era M46 Howitzers.

‘Bhim’ self-propelled howitzer project which was supposed to replace Catapult system before it was shelved after supplier of 155mm / L52 howitzer guns by Denel of South Africa was blacklisted by Indian government . Project went cold and find for replacement Gun to be mounted on Arjun chassis not yet been successful, Bhim was successfully tested by Indian army and was cleared for Production before the project went cold due to blacklisting.

After success with M-46 guns in 1971 war with Pakistan , Indian army had used soviet union supplied towed 130 mm Field Gun M-46 and mounted it with Vijayanta tank chassis and was known has Catapult artillery system which served in Indian army till 2008 before it was put in reserve .

According to Military experts India had put into reserve around 100 Catapult artillery systems most of the guns will come from here, but before it is mounted on Arjun chassis, Guns will be upgraded to 155mm 52 calibre standard by OFB and then DRDO will integrate it with Arjun chassis.

Initial order of 40 can go up if Army is satisfied with the Final Product and Indian army can procure more of these guns from old soviet bloc countries, Indian army had a requirement of 200 mounted howitzers on Arjun chassis for the Bhim Project.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Good,i'm tired of seeing the antiquated abbot 105 mm SPG in our arsenal.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Arjun chassis-

Work towards new SPGs for the IA-


Antiquated M46 system to be used-

 

[indoPunjabi]

lol indian army back to their "jugaad" tactics :banghead:

 

[Gessler]

@HK Indian MBT

Please, give the link.
@Abingdonboy

It will be somewhat different from the Bofors FH-77B being brought up to 155x45 standard
by OFB. Anyway, what we need are 155mm mounted SP guns with 52-cal ammo, it's gonna be
far better than the previous M46 anyway!

Good,i'm tired of seeing the antiquated abbot 105 mm SPG in our arsenal.

Don't we also have some ~50 Russian 2S19 MSTA-S 152mm SP guns?

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

We don't have them.
Around a 100 catapult 130mm.
Some abbots 105 mm and 110 2S1 soviet 122mm.

 

[confound thinker]

Well something is better than nothing.

 

[AUSTERLITZ]

Arjun chassis-

Work towards new SPGs for the IA-


Antiquated M46 system to be used-

1]The m-46 is possibly one of the best post ww2 artillery designs all over,
2]its being upgraded to 52 cal.
3]And its a stopgap till current tender for SP guns is completed.

 

[Sergi]

And why in the world not just buy new gun ???

- modification of ancient guns + mounting them on Arjun Chassis + DRDO is going to do it
what could go wrong ??? What about the gun DRDO made ??? Why not use that directly ???

I am 100% sure they will end up spending more money than the price of new system and still will not pass all IA requirement

 

[Dash]

Ek jageh pe raho....Yahana wahan kyun bhag rahe ho??

 

[HK Indian MBT]

Arjun chassis-

Work towards new SPGs for the IA-


Antiquated M46 system to be used-

Guns will be upgraded to 155mm 52 calibre standard by OFB and then DRDO will integrate it with Arjun chassis.

Well said . It will boost IA fire power any way SO As u said

Well something is better than nothing.

 

[Tshering22]

Who the fck wrote Article 14 in the Indian Constitution?

This tendering has become the bane of our defense forces.

It is time to scrap off this article.

 

[Nisha]

We wont allow private players to test their weapons, we put up all sorts of stumbling blocks to prevent their progess and India's, and we make every effort to slow us down......wtf is wrong with us? If you vote for Congress, you a f-king loser! Case closed

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

The thumbs up sign is an injustice....

 

[IND151]

I guess(guess not sure) that DRDO ATAGS will be based on M-46

I know M-46 is old but OFB is producing it for decades and it is easier for them to base ATAGS on M-46 while adding several new features to bring it on par with modern howitzers

@sancho @Capt.Popeye

We can base the truck mounted 155MM/45 cal system on M-46 too