The aim of thE seminar was to expose delegates to Artillery Technology through direct interaction with the researchers, designers, developers, and manufacturers both in the public and private sector.

The speakers included domain experts who were involved in conceptualising artillery operations, framing qualitative requirements, designing and developing to specifications, prototyping, manufacturing and controlling the quality of artillery equipment, ammunition and missiles.

It was the first time that students at the School of Artillery got to hear the best brains in the country about artillery modernisation.

One of the mandates of CENJOWS is to bring the industry and users together for better synergy. The OFB and private industry shared their capabilities and emerging technologies. Industry representatives were able to hear interact with professionals and practitioners of the art of warfare attending courses at the SoA to understand and deliver state-of-the-art equipment, which should perform beyond the soldier’s expectation. The students used the unique opportunity to interact meaningfully with the tacticians, scientists, designers, developers, manufacturers, quality controllers and acquisition experts and squeeze the maximum mileage from this event.

Leading factories of the OFB, ie, the Gun Carriage Factory, Gun and Shell Factory, Cossipore, Ordnance Factory Medak and Ordnance Factory Dehradun who are all involved in the manufacture of components of artillery gun systems or the whole equipment participated with experts. From the DRDO, the two leading laboratories – High Explosives Material Research Laboratory and Armament Research & Development Establishment – sent there speakers. The Director General of Quality Assurance has his best experts in Ammunition and Armamentand the brightest minds in the private industry were there to educate the delegates on the projects that they had undertaken.

With support from the Army Training Command and the Directorate General of Artillery, an all-encompassingagenda was drawn up. There was something of value for all who attended – from AIGs to YOs to LGSC students and even some of the experts from various organisations.

Going beyond the precis, which impart basic knowledge on concepts and theories with facts and figures, IIT graduates, post graduates from foreign universities, officers with rich experience in the Regiment of Artillery shared their thoughts on emerging technologies and latest developments.

The future of artillery is intricately linked to the future of warfare and the future battlefield. As far as the Indian Army is concerned and the threats that it is likely to face in the next two decades, no dramatic changes are foreseen in the role and importance of artillery. If it all, the importance and the need for massive indirect fire is only likely to increase. Short and swift wars are even likely to enhance the requirement of artillery fire. No doubt, dramatic changes are taking place in surveillance and target acquisition, engagement techniques and precision delivery of munitions. These are only enhancing the effect of artillery fire. In today’s battlefield, preponderance of artillery is a battle-winning factor. We must always have an edge of the over the enemy in over ability to plaster him and pulverize him in all engagements.

Rapid changes are taking place in the artillery. The pace was unimaginable 10 or 20 years ago. The OFB is no longer a white elephant. It has begun in-house design and development, which is forcing Indian and foreign companies to team together. The private sector has taken bold steps and committed a lot of resources to producing record-breaking equipment, which is globally accepted. There are hardly any big-ticket land systems, which are not within their capabilities to produce, albeit with foreign collaboration.

Artillery guns are judged on the basis of range, accuracy and consistency. The Bofors gun had set a benchmark in these parameters ever since it was inducted. In the new systems being brought to the market all three sectors – DRDO, OFB and Private Industry – have proved themselves. The seminar was the platform to learn how they had done it.

The adage which says we should have 30 per cent state-of-the-art, 30 per cent current and contemporary and remainder 40 per cent in the final stages of their lifecycle, may not hold true any longer.

The Indian Army is changing bulk of its artillery to the medium class. It will have to start increasing the percentage of precision guided munitions (PGM) at a much faster pace. It is imperative that India produces its own indigenous PGMs and loitering missiles so as to reduce the exorbitant costs involved in importing them. Some armies give more attention to the projectile rather than to the guns that fire them.

Space based surveillance means, new class or radars and UAVs are changing the nature of warfare. Increased detection and identification ranges have introduced stand-off warfare into the military glossary.

The Infantry may be the Queen of Battle, but Artillery is the King of Battle. However, for the King to retain its throne, indirect fire must be able to penetrate and destroy the enemy’s anti-access and area denial networks at longer ranges, thereby creating windows of opportunity for exploitation by the Army.

The delegates heard about emerging and advanced technologies. The instructors, students and delegates were able to see the latest equipment which has not yet been introduced in service. It is good to have state-of-the-art equipment in the inventory, but the aim should be to acquire indigenous technologies for the equipment that the Army needs today. To that end it was very heartening to learn that no effort was being spared to develop capabilities. What the Ordnance Factories and the private sector was doing, was an eye-opener for the delegates and the instructors who attended.

After many years a number of new systems are being inducted, which were among the best available. Exposing the users to the development process, would help them to appreciate and exploit the equipment much better.

Some excellent work was being carried out by the DRDO on Pinaka, ATAGS and artillery ammunition. The DRDO has come of age and has transitioned from the time they were trying to discover themselves about 30 years ago. Yet, they have to go through hits and misses. But now they have more hits than misses. There was a time when DRDO was happy working in the background and there was a gap between them and the users.

Finally, Napoleon’s aphorism, “God fights on the side with the best artillery” appears as true today as it did almost three centuries ago.

A detailed report on the Seminar will be published in the April 2020 issue.

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Inaugural Session

Welcome Address. Welcoming the delegates, Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia, Director CENJOWS, averred that interaction with troops on the frontline had revealed that night vision devices (NVD) were lacking both in quantity and contemporary quality. China on the other hand, has invested heavily in high technology equipment, including NVDs. India has to urgently increase its night vision surveillance capabilities to ensure optimum security of its borders. Despite the scaling of NVDs for the Indian Army being finalized, the shortfall of large number of NVDs still existed. He hoped that the Indian armed forces would get the required night vision capabilities at the earliest for effective defence of land borders, air space and long coastline, as also to undertake operational offensive operations in all three domains.

Inaugural Address. Lt Gen SS Hasabnis, DEputy Chief of Army Staff (P&S), Army HQ, said that the Indian Army had to be prepared for conventional, multi-domain and hybrid warfare. The Indian Armed Forces have to follow a threat-cum-capability approach when equipping themselves to deal with such warfare. The counter-insurgency/counter-terrorist (CI/CT) operations and Line of Control (LoC) monitoring requires 24×7 effort. Thus, NVDs can make such operations effective during nighttime as well as during bad weather conditions. He also highlighted that surveillance of the battlefield was a tactical level issue till a few decades back. However, it has now moved to the operational level. Also, war fighting has largely shifted to non-conventional operations and this necessitated a modification in surveillance philosophy. We now need to equip soldiers with night vision from sub-tactical level to operational and strategic levels.

Keynote Address. Lt Gen Sanjay Verma, Director General Weapons & Equipment, Army HQ brought out that the technology changes in NVDs had moved very fast. The Army soldiers and Air Force pilots now want latest Generation-3 NVDs. However, there was a gap between perception of industry and the actual requirements of the armed forces, as far as NVDs were concerned. He mentioned that while the Image Intensifier devices (IIDs) progressed from Generation 0 to Generation 3 in 70 years, the Thermal Imaging (TI) devices had changed the dynamics completely. In 2019-20, the Armed Forces were looking for fusion of II and TI techniques into a single device, as also its integration with the weapon so as to exploit the strengths of both technologies in operations. He also exhorted the industry to try and integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into II/TI fused devices; and may be go a step further and provide an underlay of digital maps and global positioning system (GPS) feed into such devices.

Theme Address. Maj Gen JS Sandhu, Additional DG Infantry, Army HQ, emphasized that the weapon in the field was as good as the night sight on it. Thus, the critical requirements for NVDs were weapon compatible ranges, ruggedness, easy sustainability and adequate power requirements. The biggest challenge for the soldier was carriage of multiple power banks at remote posts or during patrolling. A common power bank/charging system would greatly help in reducing the load on the soldier especially for special operations. Moreover, NVDs should be able to withstand vagaries of weather, have in-built GPS and laser range finder (LRF), and be easily portable and maintainable. He said that the Infantry arm intends to upgrade the procurement of II and TI sights for small arms and sniper rifles in batches, to ensure timely upgrades with evolution of technology. He also exhorted the industry to interact and engage freely with the procurers so as to clearly understand the user requirements and explain their products comprehensively.

Session  1–Emerging Technologies

Maj Gen AK Channan, Additional DG Perspective Planning & Head Army Design Bureau, chaired the session and explained the importance of having superior NVDs in operational conditions. He said that the there had been a paradigm shift in the surveillance techniques at the sub-conventional level and in border guarding role. In such a situation, efforts must be made to shorten the sensor-to-shooter loop. Also, the next level of technology should aim at the convergence/fusion of all images into a single networked equipment so that commanders are able to get a comprehensive picture of their area of interest. He invited the representatives from the industry to present their products and technologies and stressed that future NVDs also must cater for measures to guard against counter-NVD devices.

Ronen Sharashov from Semi-conductor Devices, Israel spoke on “Infrared Detectors for Defence Applications.” He gave a detailed presentation on the role and significance of using Infra-Red (IR) detectors for airborne, maritime, land and space applications. He explained the extensive range of cooled and uncooled detectors based on a variety of sensing materials across the entire IR spectrum, viz, NIR, SWIR, MWIR and LWIR.

Bhanu Pratap of VVDN Technologies spoke on “Design Manufacturing in Technology Innovation.” VVDN has end-to-end product development capabilities with special refernce to thermal imaging equipment, which includes PCB and Firmware Development, Mechanical Design, Camera Testing, Compliance with State of the art Infrastructure, Video Management System. All cameras are designed, developed and manufactured in India by VVDN with Source Code availability. VVDN has the capability to customize specifications as per requirements. VVDN Technologies utilises AI, machine learning, big-data analytics technologies to produce innovative solutions to complex problems related to national security and defence. VVDN has a global footprint with nine design and delivery centres, four manufacturing facilites and six global sales offices.

Munjal Shah of Paras Defence made a presentation on use of advanced technologies to produce high quality optical products which are the main components of all MVDs. He said that his company had five vertical to offer products and solutions – Defence & Space Optics, Defence Electronics, Heavy Engineering, EMP Solutions and Niche Technologies. In the Defence & Space verticals, their products included IR lenses, optical domes, difractive gratings, multi-fold lenses, large size space mirrors and metal reflectors & mirrors. Munjal Shah explained the exceptional optical performance of coated Germanium lenses of various thicknesses. Theirs was India’s only company manufacturing Diffractive Gratings for Space Hyperspectral Imaging System, ZnS Domes & Windows, Saphire Domes and Gyro Blocks & Coated Resonator Shells. Their latest offering was precision zoom lenses.

Prachi Gupta of MKU Ltd spoke on “Night Vision – The Benefits of Indigenisation.” She explained the higher costs of imports vis a vis benefits of indigenization which allows for customisation, control over quality and after sales service. She recounted MKU’s business activities and strengths in soldier systems. MKU had Class 10,000 clean rooms and used latest Gen-3 technologies. MKU has supplied equipment to over 230 forces worldwide. It has expertise in optics, electronics and product design for II weapon sights, monoculars and binoculars. She explained the features of Netro NV3000, TW4000, TW4100, NC3000 and TM4100 II sights for various weapons, helmet-mounted binoculars, monoculars and so on.

Vinod Yadav of Tata Power SED, speaking on “Technologies and solutions in EO Domain,” gave an expose on the technologies and solutions in the electro-optical domain.

Session 2–NVD Requirements

Air Marshal Anil Chopra, former Head of Flight Test Centre (ASTE), chaired the session and explained that the first requirement was that the soldier must be equipped properly and be able to see the battlefield clearly. Secondly, he should be able to communicate the battlefield picture upwards to his commanders. He, thereafter, asked the officers from the three Services to spell out their requirements for NVDs keeping these imperatives in mind.

Col Amitoz Singh, Colonel Infantry-8, Directorate General of Infantry, Army HQ, spoke on Infantry Requirements. He explained the scales of all types of NVDs and weapon sights, the quantities for which procurement action had been initiated and the technical requirements of each. He spoke of clip-on type II and TI sights for carbine and assault rifles. He laid out a time line of one and half to two years for procurement of first batch of NVDs, followed by staggered purchases of small quantities, but more frequently.

Col Surya Prakash, Colonel Artillery-9, Directorate General of Artillery, Army HQ, spoke on Artillery’s Requirements. He stressed that LORROS had been the bedrock of surveillance, fall of shot correction and recording at the LoC. He wished that the TI devices had foliage penetration capability and recommended that the industry look at combining the electro-optics and radars for comprehensive all weather, uninterrupted surveillance.

Gp Capt AK Wahi, Group Captain Operations (Space), Air HQ, spoke on Air Force requirements. He explained the peculiarities of the airborne medium, citing that there was a huge problem of too many light sources, as opposed to their absence in the ground environments. He said that NV goggles had huge limitations in fog, mist and smoke, which could have disastrous consequences in the airborne operations, but the pilots could land in total darkness using FLIR. He recommended panoramic (110 degrees) coverage for NVGs, runway and cockpit modifications to suit both, IR and visual modes and better cameras for IR on aircraft.

Capt (IN) Robin Chakravorty, Captain SR (Gun), Directorate of Staff Requirements, Naval HQ, spoke on Indian Navy’s Requirements. He explained the NVDs required for naval ships, aircraft and Special Forces. He stressed on the imperative of all-round field of vision for NVDs, along with stability in roll, pitch and yaw axes for naval platforms. Further, the NVDs must be able to function in multi-spectral domain, to cater for all conditions.

Session 3–Challenges In Combat Operations

Maj Gen (Dr) GD Bakshi, chaired the session and emphasized that the night and all weather fighting ability would be the most critical component of revolution in military affairs (RMA) in future battles. Highlighting the necessity of having NVDs of mixed/different ranges to meet the requirement of varying terrain like high altitude, jungle, riverine or deserts having their own peculiarities, he asked the officers from the Army and central armed police forces (CAPFs) to bring forth the challenges faced in their domains during combat operations.

Col Gurpreet Singh, Colonel Future Ready Combat Vehicle (FRCV), Directorate General of Mechanised Forces, spoke on “Mechanised Forces in Night Operations.” He briefed the audience about battlefield environment and various conflict scenarios which were ever evolving with varying factors of space, probability and high visibility. He highlighted the night enablement and timely connectivity at night as core issues for mechanised forces’ operations.

Brig AN Kukreti, Brigadier Infantry B, Infantry Directorate, Army HQ, spoke on “Enhancing Infantry Operations by Night.” He emphasized the requirement of NVDs for foot soldiers in terms of improved detection, recognition, identification, day & night continuous capability, integration, maintenance & sustenance, reduction in size, weight, cost and power consumption and, lastly, ease of operations. He recommended that future night sights should be modular, with a common basic structure and add-ons based on requirements, for enabling better flexibility and easy upgrades.

NS Jamwal, Inspector General, Frontier HQ, BSF Jammu, gave a presentation on “Challenges in Border Management at Night.” He comprehensively covered all the borders of India, their peculiarities, challenges in dominating them, the electro-optical gadgets available and problems faced by the BSF.

Session 4–R&D and

Maintenance Support

Lt Gen Anjan Mukherjee, Consultant Ordnance Factory Board former DG Artillery, chaired the session and spelt out that major sustenance issues for NVDs were lack of infrastructure, SMTs/STEs, literature, expertise and spares. There was also a need for adequacy of resources, low sustenance cost and obsolescence management of NVDs. Hence, there was a need to build a relationship with the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) beyond the contract stipulations so that their expertise and assistance was available for sustenance until the equipments were in service.

HK Sharma, Principal Scientific Officer, CQA AVA, Avadi, spoke on Quality Control of Night Vision & Electro-optic Devices. He gave out the classification of NVDs and their components requiring quality checks. He went into details of various parameters – image quality, response, noise, resolution, accuracy, geometric, operational and spectral. He also explained the quality test and their procedures.

Benjamin Lionel, Outstanding Scientist and & Director, Instrument Research & Development Establishment (IRDE) DRDO, spoke on  “Latest Developments in Night Vision Devices in India.” He touched upon the design, fabrication, thin film coating and assembly of day and night II and TI optical systems and progress made in dual mode (day & IIR) seekers and Infrared Search & Track Systems.

Sourabh Bhaskar, Works Manager, Ordnance Factory Dehradun (OFD), spoke on “Manufacture of NVDs, sights and EO Equipment.” He explained the facilities available and work being carried out by OFD. OFD  was working on latest dual band thermal imaging fusion technology with Low Light Level sensor in consultation with IIT. OFD was also working on manufacturing of 12.7 mm SRCG (Stabilized Remote Controlled Gun) for the Indian Navy through transfer of technology and development of LIGHTS (Laser Illuminated Guidance & Homing Targeting system) and CAMOPS (Compact Airborne Multi Sensor Optic Payload System) Project.

Maj Gen SS Suhag, Additional DG EME, Army HQ, spoke on  “Sustainment challenges in Electro-optics equipment.” He said that since India’s private industry was progressively becoming technically advanced, especially in the field of NVDs, there was a need for the industry to set up forward repair bases at major Army locations. He felt that annual maintenance contracts (AMCs) based on component replacement approach, particularly for foreign sourced items, were a major drain on Army’s revenue budget. He, therefore, proposed to build in-house repair facilities, particularly for card and ICBs with active collaboration of Indian private players, so as to break the monopoly of foreign propriety vendors.

Valedictory Session

Valedictory Address. Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia, Director CENJOWS pointed out that after scaling, the requirement of NVDs for Infantry alone was above 4 lakhs. Thus overall requirement for the three Services was not only huge, but massive. In addition, the BSF patrolling the 4096 km long border with Bangladesh required large numbers of NVDs for better border management. He felt that the formulation of GSQRs/PSQRs must be prepared by consensus of all stake holders, with due inputs and technological advice of industry. Towards this, he reiterated that CENJOWS had a mandate to bring the industry and users on the same platform and exhorted the industry to use CENJOWS as the via-media for interacting and sending suggestions to relevant users and policy makers in the Government.

Vote of Thanks. Maj Gen Ravi Arora, Chief Editor IMR and Seminar Coordinator, concluded the seminar by thanking the participants and sponsors of the event.

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