India has been firing at our positions and our villages from heavy Artillery for a time now while Pakistan is reported to be responding with only Light Machine Guns, Mortars and ATGM's, which India is using aswell along with using Artillery .
What is stopping us from deploying heavy artillery at the LOC and IB and firing at them so that the collateral damage on their side is severe aswell.
Thoughts??
Indian posts are already in the range of Mortars, ATGM's, SPG-9, LMG's of Pakistani Forces deployed on LOC.
Mortar can hit positions on back side of the mountain also due to its trajectory of firing, where enemy hides it assets from eyes of Pakistan Army like ammunition dump, bunkers to conducts briefings between officers and soldiers, holds communication infrastructure etc.
Range of mortar is upto 6 Km, Indian posts are usually 3-4 km away from Pakistan positions.
High explosive rounds fired by the 81mm Mortar weigh 10 lb (4.5 kg) and can have an effective kill radius of 35 m (115 ft). This kill radius is good enough to damage every soldier in a bunker.
The rate of fire of Mortar can be 20+ rounds per minute but this rate of fire is NOT usual. you can check rate of fire
ATGM's are used to penetrate steel reinforced bunkers at ranges of 3-4 Km. They do require Line of sight (LOS) but are very precise so rounds are not wasted. Since they are guided, the direction of impact can be chosen, top or front or side. Bunkers are heavily protected from top unlike tanks. If targeted properly, ATGM can even enter opening of the bunker looking towards Pakistani positions.
The weight of Baktar shikan round is 11.2 KG and TOW is 12.4 KG, so its penetration power is more than a Mortar round.
LMG can suppress the enemy movement from a distance (upto 800m and more in certain cases ) but its accuracy gets affected after a certain distance. SPG-9 is a cheaper alternative to ATGM. Its a 73mm Recoilless Gun which can fire upto 6 rounds per minute at a distance of 1300m. It has both HE and HEAT capability so can be used against infantry as well as bunkers. Range can be increased through different rounds used. the weight of rounds is usually 3-5 KG so can pack a punch similar to mortar round.
Artillery is used when the range of enemy is more than the range of above mentioned smaller calibre weapons, for example 8 km or 10 km or more. A forward artillery observer usually an officer is deployed with front line forces who directs artillery fire on enemy positions.
Movement of artillery and its deployment is not easy in mountain terrain unlike plains and desert where artillery can be deployed at any location. Pakistan has weapon locating radars which can detect location of Indian guns firing location.
Considering the situation on ground, either the indian guns had been brought forward, they fired and then relocated back to original position. secondly, if they fired from original deployment positions, then the geography of landscape is such that fire from Pakistani guns cannot reach them, in this case relocation of Pakistani guns becomes necessary for counter battery fire. Thirdly, Pakistan also has an option to target civilian passenger vehicles but refrains to do so. Fourthly, Pakistani command is satisfied with the amount of damage done by small calibre weapons to Indian forces and the damage to Indian forces is an ongoing process.
India has used artillery out of frustration on Pakistani civilians, probably the damage done by pakistani fire on Indian forces on LOC is too much to handle. Indian forces are not short of targets on LOC, neither has India destroyed all the posts or Pakistani troops vanished from LOC. A civilian target is an easy available target, where as soldiers take cover in bunkers and hardened shelters. A civilian cannot fire back when targeted but a soldier will fire back when targeted.
All said and done, I sincerely hope that Pakistani forces prepare for counter battery fire to silence Indian guns.