Lt Gen Tarun Kumar Chawla becomes new DG of Artillery

• He was commissioned into a Field Regiment of Artillery in 1984 & served across a wide spectrum of terrain profiles & held a host of command, staff & instructional appointments.
• He commanded an Artillery Regiment both in Western & Eastern sectors & commanded an Artillery Brigade on the Line of Control & an Artillery Division in the Western Theatre.
• He has also served as a Military Observer at the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNOMIL).

Regiment of Artillery

• It is one among the four major Combat Arms of the Indian Army along with the Infantry, Mechanised Infantry and the Armoured Corps.
• Artillery which is the second biggest arm, next to the infantry and has proved its decisive role in helping the nation win many battles post independence
• It played a crucial role in Counter Insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir as also in the North East.

History of Artillery

• The foundation of the Regiment of Artillery was laid on September 28 in 1827 when Bombay Artillery, later renamed 5 Bombay Mountain Battery, was raised.
• This day is celebrated by the Regiment of Artillery as Gunners Day.
• In May 1857, the mutiny by Indian soldiers started in the artillery of the Army of the Bengal Presidency.
• The incident prompted a complete ban on Indian artillery units, except the mountain artillery batteries in select provinces.
• The decision was reversed in the mid-1930s when the first of the field regiments of the Indian Army were raised.

Present day Artillery

• The Artillery of Indian Army consists today of a dynamic inventory ranging from Ballistic Missile, Multi-Barrel Rocket launchers, High Mobility Guns, Mortars Precision Guided Munitions for destruction of enemy targets to Radars, UAVs and Electro optic devices for locating and carrying out Post Strike Damage Assessment (PSDA).
• The Regiment of Artillery has played a key role in all the post independence conflicts with the neighbours including the Kargil War.

Integrated battle groups

• These battle groups are formations comprising artillery, mechanised infantry and armoured and infantry elements along with the modern day force multipliers like UAVs and electronic warfare systems.
• The artillery fire can be used for suppressive and destructive purposes to get an upper hand over the enemy.

Indian Artillery Firepower

• Bofors guns were inducted in 1980s which proved decisive in Kargil war.
• Two more artillery guns — the K9 Vajra of the Indian-South Korean make and US sourced M777 Ultra Light Howitzers — were inducted into the Indian Army in 2018.
• Currently, Defence Research and Development Organisation’s (DRDO) Dhanush is in the pipeline for induction and its Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) is in its trial stages.