What is DRDO's 'shoot & scoot' MGS that offers high-mobility firepower? Indian Army is set to test them, claims report

The Indian Army is gearing up to hold trials to assess the performance of DRDO Mounted Gun System (MGS), India’s first fully indigenous truck-mounted artillery platform, designed to provide rapid, high-mobility firepower to the armed forces.

 

According to a Hindustan Times report, the Indian Army has written to Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (VRDE), a laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), to make the gun system available for trials. The Army is expected to hold the trials in different terrains and weather conditions. 

 

Based on the Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS), MGS is a truck-mounted, self-propelled variant that integrates the ATAGS gun onto an 8x8 high-mobility vehicle.

 

According to DRDO, MGS has been designed and developed by adapting 155 mm / 52 cal ATAGS armament system designed and developed by ARDE on 8x8 high mobility vehicle. 155 mm / 52 cal refers to a type of artillery gun barrel where the 155 mm is the diameter of the shell the gun fires, and 52 cal refers to the barrel length.

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Capable of operating at desert and high-altitude areas with 'shoot and scoot' capability, this gun system has a maximum firing range of 45 km with high accuracy and consistency of fire.

 

The gun system can be rapidly deployed, matching the mobility of the mechanised forces, destroy the enemy targets and move out before retaliatory fire occurs—in other words,  'shoot and scoot'.

 

MSGs can be mounted on a vehicle or a platform such as a tank, armoured vehicle or helicopter. They are designed to provide mobile and flexible fire power, allowing operators to engage targets while on the move to achieve shoot and scoot capabilities.

 

“The MGS performed well during internal trials by VRDE at Balasore and Pokhran. It meets the qualitative requirements laid down by the army. The Russia-Ukraine war has shown the effectiveness of high mobility artillery,” Hindustan Times quoted VRDE chief GRM Rao as saying.

 

DRDO has transferred the technology of the MGS to Bharat Forge Limited as part of its broader initiative to indigenise and industrialise advanced defence systems.

Defence