Indian Army artillery unit
Posted on 10/23/2021 3:40:58 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Two weeks ago the Chinese and Indian militaries announced that the latest round of peace talks amid the 17-month standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) separating India from China have failed. The 13th round of talks collapsed after China accused the India side with issuing "unrealistic and unreasonable" demands.
The Indian Army has within the past days announced the fresh deployment of batteries of upgraded anti-aircraft guns along the contested border. The region has witnessed a build-up of many thousands of troops on either side especially since the Ladakh Galwan Valley clash which occurred in June 15-16, 2020 - and resulted in the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers, and an unknown number of Chinese PLA casualties.
Indian Army artillery unit
Identified in military statements as L-70 anti-aircraft guns, it appears in response to China operating jet fight fighters out of multiple high-altitude airbases in the region, including deploying from small civilian airports and developing airstrips in the Tibet Autonomous Region. The legacy guns were specifically outfitted and upgraded for that purpose, and have an estimated range of 3.5km, firing at 300 rounds per minute.
The Independent detailed that "New Delhi has deployed modern Ultra Light Howitzer M777 artillery guns along with its vintage, but now-upgraded L-70 Bofors artillery guns at its eastern border along the Line of Actual Control (LAC)." It's rare to be able to deploy an artillery unit to at least 15,000 feet above sea level, given especially the extreme logistics required.
According to Indian Army Air Defense spokesperson Capt. Sarya Abbasi of the Army Air Defense, the new guns will integrate with ground forces to provide high-tech advanced targeting of any inbound aerial threat. "The guns can bring down all unmanned aerial vehicles, unmanned combat aerial vehicles, attack helicopters and modern aircraft," the captain said.
Chinese still deployed at 3 air bases facing Ladakh, building infra: IAF chief https://t.co/Bw01escJMQ via @IndianExpress — satyendra ranjan (@sranjan19) October 6, 2021
"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," the statement noted.
L-70, Image source Indian Defence Research Wing
Further, "The gun is also equipped with a Muzzle Velocity Radar for enhancing the accuracy of fire. The gun has the ability to be integrated with tactical and fire control radars which give it more flexibility in its deployment."
Military analysis news sources have indicated recent tests of the antiaircraft gun in September, wherein the upgraded L-70 intercepted a half-meter wide small drone.
May both sides win...
India is our natural ally.
Ping.
The Indian Air Force has some experienced pilots but flies mostly antiquated aircraft. The Chinese Air Force has a multitude of mostly copied modern aircraft with very up to date pirated electronics but has essentially untested pilots and virtually no combat experience. The Indians are right to concentrate on anti aircraft batteries and to equip their land troops with shoulder missiles and drones. Despite the Chinese advantage in numbers and aircraft quality, suspect if there was a war, the Chinese would be bloodied and learn a bitter lesson in the air war.
The Indian Air Force has been undergoing a modernization programme. In addition to producing an indigenous fighter, they are acquiring Dassault Rafaele fighters.
I remember sharing a firing range in Germany with these relics back in the 80’s. They were with the West German army.
Not at all suited for shooting planes down.
They probably erred in calling it that. The gun appears to be a modernized Bofors 40 mm AA gun. That makes sense given the stated 3,500 m range and the high rate of fire.
Always wondered why 155mm artillery are not equipped with “shot gun” shells that can be radar directed aimed, positioned and fired at aircraft up to twelve miles away. Also why weren’t the big guns on battleships equipped with such shells to aid in anti aircraft defense. The Yamato was sunk with multiple hits by aircraft who were teeing off on the ship with almost no effective AA to disrupt them. If those big 18 inch guns fired “shot gun” shells at their attackers, suspect the attacks would have been less effective. Shot gun shells may also be last line of defense for surface combatants facing incoming missiles or drones.
Good Luck to those Indian defenders !They don’t seem to have much of a choice,but are willing to do what’s necessary to
defend their Country.
There are almost 300 Su30MKI, the backbone of the fleet. The antique but upgraded MiG 21s and the indigenous HAL Tejas with AESA radar and Israeli missiles are meant to serve against Pakistan where they are at par with the Pakis.
Equipped with Israeli and French electronics and weapons systems, the Su30 MKIs are not antiquated by any yardstick. The Dassault Rafale, equipped with the Meteor, Scalp and Hammer missiles are the newest set of teeth.
These things are for killing people, usually large groups of them, at long distances. When they get close enough to be annoying, we were trained to fire at them ("direct fire") using either an HE round time fuzed at something brief - or there used to be a flechette round for the 105mm that would have been your "Buchshot round".
We would always do our best to not let them get that close, or our gun would end up being a lawn ornament for their VFW hall.
In short, unless the enemy plane was very slow-moving, a manually cranked 4 1/2 ton cannon with a very limited arc would be a very poor choice.
The Yamato-Class battleships ( both of them) did have an 18.1 "buckshot round" for antiaircraft fires and they used those rounds enthusiastically during the battles around the Phillipines in 1944 and for the Yamato alone on its way to Okinawa. Didn't hit anybody as far as anyone knows and not all that many crews survived so we don't have any of their accounts about how effective they thought they were.
Really
How?
The world’s largest English-speaking nation, the world’s largest democracy, the world’s largest pluralistic society, the world’s largest capitalistic economy, the world’s largest (or soon to be) population …
AND, critically, a huge geographic-strategic counter-weight to China.
Really
How?
OK!
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