155 mm, 52 Caliber Gun

Introduction

In 2011, DRDO announced that its intent to develop a 155mm / 52 caliber gun for the Indian Army.

Speaking on the occasion of DRDO Awards Function on June 3, 2011, Dr VK Saraswat, SA to RM, Secretary Defence Research and Director General DRDO said DRDO is "hoping to launch new programs for Gun Development of 155mm / 52 Caliber Artillery Gun in both stand-alone and self-propelled versions, so as to take care of future artillery requirements of the next decade."

DRDO's Combat Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (CVRDE) and BEML are working together with a foreign firm for building and supplying the gun, V.R.S. Natarajan, chairman and managing director of BEML, told the press on December 11, 2011. [via IANS]

Earlier, it was reported in September 2010 that the Slovakian company, DMD, and BEML would collaborate to produce a wheeled 155 mm 52 caliber gun. BEML was also looking at a tracked version of the gun.

Bhim T6 155mm 52 Caliber Gun

BEML earlier developed a tracked gun comprising a fully autonomous T6 turret equipped with 155mm 52 caliber armament mounted on a MBT Arjun Chassis WITH 1400 hp power pack.

The Bhim T6 howitzer turret was developed by Denel of South Africa. 

The gun could fire to a maximum range of 42 km using extended range full bore type (ERFB) projectiles. At 75% of maximum range, the probable error specification is only 0.48% of range and 1 mil in deflection.  

Bhim T6 was successfully tested in 1998 and 1999, but the weapon system was dreopped after  Denel was accused of paying bribes.