The Indian Army's head of Artillery division, Lt Gen Adosh Kumar, has said that India was able to "neutralise" Pakistan's "imported weapons" during operation Sindoor. The counterterror operation by India, after the Pahalgam terror attack, saw India striking at terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Speaking to Sidhant Sibal on the WION podcast, Kumar said, “Our indigenous weapons successfully neutralised the enemy's fancied imported weapons and equipment. We need to sustain this momentum. We need to invest more in R&D”.
Kumar was commissioned into the Indian Army in June 1986 and has over 39 years of experience. He took charge as the Director General of Artillery in May 2023. The regiment of artillery is the second largest operational arm of the Indian Army, after the infantry. Comprising over 250 units, the regiment manages a wide array of artillery systems, guns, rockets, missiles, and surveillance assets.
Sidhant Sibal: Artillery played a major part in the success of Op SINDOOR. What are the lessons for Artillery?
Lt Gen Adosh Kumar: We have witnessed a paradigm shift in India's strategic signalling. We have moved beyond a reactive response of the 2016 strikes and 2018 Balakot strikes to a multi-domain, high precision, offensive targeting so as to achieve our political-military aims, and also while retaining control over the escalatory ladder. And you would have noticed during this ongoing operation, there has been a perceptible shift in our mindset. Zero Tolerance is a new normal. We are going in for punitive retaliation, and the aim is to inflict considerable destruction on the enemy's infrastructure so as to deter him from any misadventure in the future. We've also witnessed a whole-of-nation approach with the multi-domain synergy between the three services as far as planning and execution is concerned. You would have seen that the operation name was very well chosen. It struck an emotional chord with the masses. What has been redeeming about this operation is the success of our Atmanirbharata drive, especially in Defence. Our indigenous weapons successfully neutralised the enemy's fancied imported weapons and equipment. We need to sustain this momentum. We need to invest more in R&D, and also, the defence industry must have the ability to surge production in case required. As far as the regiment of artillery is concerned, a number of issues have emerged. The first being that non-contact kinetic warfare is the new normal. We have seen effective use of rockets, effective use of missiles, and loiter munitions. So, we need to augment this capability to engage targets at longer ranges with precision. Loiter munitions, we have seen their effective use in the destruction of precision targets. You are aware, these are low-cost, high-impact weapon systems, which were used for targeting the enemy's infrastructure and their weapon systems. So, we need to, as a regiment of artillery, invest more in loiter munitions. And what I mean is, you know, having loiter munitions with more range, with more endurance, ability to fire different warheads, and, equally importantly, ability to operate in a dense electronic warfare environment. Also, I think, in the regiment of Artillery, we already have a modernisation plan, the ability to quickly move from one place to another, especially in the mountainous terrains. Alongside the guns, I think there's a need to have more precision, guided, or terminally guided munitions. I think another thing that comes to my mind is the need for persistent surveillance at all levels we need, whether it's at strategic levels or operational levels, or tactical level through your satellite imageries, through your air photos, through our radars, or even through our surveillance drones. Now this is required, not only for us, for our target acquisition, but also for the direction of our own artillery fire, as well as for post-strike damage assessment. In the future, we need our gun areas to have more overhead protection. We need guns, like I said, with greater mobility, so that they can quickly shoot and scoot and move to different positions before the enemy detects our own gun areas. So, we need to augment our electronic warfare capability to be able to operate effectively. I can also assure you, I think we are fully alive to all these issues, and we are addressing them on a war footing.
Sidhant Sibal: We have seen a number of global conflicts from Europe to Asia. How do you visualise the nature of future wars and consequent changes required in the application of Artillery Firepower?
Lt Gen Adosh Kumar: It'll be difficult to predict the exact contours of future warfare, because they'll be dependent on a host of features, especially the geopolitical situation. However, I do believe that the future wars will be complex, hybrid, and multi-domain in character. They will also be escalatory. And I think, the battlefield will be characterised by intensity of operations, by simultaneity of operations going on, and by increased battlefield transparency, which brings out that the firepower will have to be employed in a very synergised manner. Now, as far as I think engagements are concerned, these engagements would be, you know, both non-contact kinetic and non-contact non-kinetic, to degrade or destroy the enemy's combat potential. As far as this non-contact warfare is concerned, I think nations around the world have been devising a strategy of winning wars without incurring physical casualties in close combat. The application of artillery is concerned or, or I think the first thing that comes to my mind is that capability development needs to be aligned with technological developments. A one module fits all sizes will be inadequate to tackle the threats due to the dynamics of terrain, space, or force. Our capability development should be futuristic, but also it should be time-based. Secondly, I think we need a balance of equipment. The efficacy of long-range vectors has been effectively seen in non-contact warfare due to their range and lethality being well established. Equally, I think the tube artillery has resulted in a lot of destruction and broken the enemy's will to fight. We need a judicious mix of guns, rockets, and missiles to accrue the operational advantages of each of these systems. I will again re-emphasise the importance of unmanned aerial systems. I think they have a very important role to play in any future battlefield. So, we need, you know, AI-enabled unmanned aerial systems, which will be able to carry out precision targeting.
Sidhant Sibal: Capability development plays a pivotal role for any operationally ready Army to meet the contemporary and futuristic challenges. Can you highlight the Regiment of Artillery's capability development plans in the context of the induction of modern weapon systems and ammunition?
Lt Gen Adosh Kumar: Today in the regiment of artillery, we are graduating from neutralisation to destruction. We are graduating from quantitative to qualitative firepower, or, I would say, changing from an arm of influence to an arm of decision. Now you asked me about the capability development plan, so I think a capability development plan is premised on six factors. The first is the modernisation of our guns. We are looking at increasing the inventory of our rockets and missiles because of their long range and precision. We are also looking at having more modern and lethal ammunition in our inventory. Looking at reorganising our surveillance architecture, and equally importantly, we are looking at digitising and automating at all levels. We have the ultra-light howitzers which are with us. We have the Dhanush guns. You are aware that, in December last year, we signed a contract for a larger number of K9 guns. These will be delivered in the next two to three years to our regiments. As far as rockets are concerned, I think more regiments of our Pinakas are being added in the near future. In capability development, we are also looking at more missile systems, both cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. As far as munitions, or ammunition, is concerned, I think we are engaged very closely not only with the defence industry, but with academia, also in many projects where we can increase the range of ammunition as well as their lethality. So, there's a lot of progress going on in that field. As far as the unmanned area system is concerned, our Shaktiban regiments and the Divyastra Batteries are being raised to further augment our UAS capability.
Sidhant Sibal: In terms of use and deployment of rockets and missiles, what are the future plans for these systems?
Lt Gen Adosh Kumar: As far as rockets are concerned, we have in our inventory several rocket systems. We have these Grad rocket systems, we have the Pinaka rocket systems, and we have these smudge rocket systems. So, as far as the Pinaka rocket systems are concerned, like I just mentioned to you, we are inducting more regiments of the Pinakas. And, in fact, the Pinaka rocket system has been a success story of India's Atmanirbharta. We are also now looking at guided, extended ranges which can be fired from Pinaka rockets. The trials of this are already over, and we are hopeful of signing this contract in this financial year itself. You know what this will lead to? This will double the range of my existing Pinaka rockets, and equally importantly, it will give me long precision with this guided as the name implies. So, we are also initiating a case shortly for you to know the capability to fire rockets with 120- and 300-kilometre range, which can be fired from the Pinaka rockets. So, what we're going to have in the near future is a rocket system which can fire a variety of rockets, a variety of rockets in terms of range, a variety of rockets in terms of warheads.
Sidhant Sibal: Drone warfare is the new normal in modern-day warfare, and the same has been established by recent conflicts. How is the Regiment of Artillery addressing this important aspect?
Lt Gen Adosh Kumar: The advent of unmanned aerial systems has revolutionised modern warfare because they offer a very wide array of applications. In the recent conflicts, we have seen the innovative, imaginative use of operations in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. In Operation Spider Web, we saw the Ukrainians use their kamikaze drones against the Russian strategic bombers and causing some damage. In the Israel-Iran conflict, in Operation Rising Lion, we saw these kamikaze drones being used by Israelis against Iran's air defence, which was quite effective. So, I think you know, it will not be incorrect to say that land warfare has somewhat transitioned into drone warfare. And you know what they say, if it can be seen, it can be hit. So, whether it's a soldier who's carrying a launcher, or whether it's a gun system, or whether it's a tank, or whether it's a command-and-control centre, if you can see it, you can hit it with precision.
Sidhant Sibal: In the light of technological advancement and changing warfare dynamics, how is the training methodology re-aligned to meet the requirements?
Lt Gen Adosh Kumar: Procuring equipment is one thing, but the ability to operate it effectively is another thing. So, I think we need to train our people to operate these systems very confidently and effectively. So, I think training pedagogy has changed with the advent of this niche technology equipment, both at our training centres, our formation level, and our school of instruction. We've established a Drone Experience Centre. Simulators have been positioned there so that the training is carried out uninterrupted. And this is not restricted only to training on simulators; once they have gathered the requisite proficiency, then we expose them to live firing with these weapon systems. Also, you know, in the school of artillery, we have put these virtual reality observation post simulators. So, our observation post officers can get more realistic training in a realistic environment.
Sidhant Sibal: As Head of the Arm, what is your vision and way forward for the Regiment of Artillery?
Lt Gen Adosh Kumar: Artillery today represents the true essence of military power by dominating the battlefield. I think modern weaponry has given us increased range and destructive prowess, which has further enhanced our versatility. As far as vision is concerned. I think our vision stems from our Chief of Army Staff's vision, or for decades of transformation to transform the Indian army into an agile and integrated modern force. So, our vision is to transform the arm into a comprehensive and integrated force that can provide all firepower solutions using niche technologies and cutting-edge solutions. Our modernisation is progressing at an appropriate pace. It is giving us time to adapt to these changes. It is giving us time to imbibe technology at all levels. And put into place optimum employment philosophies. It is based on the principle of modernisation through indigenisation, and I think most importantly, it is all-encompassing. It is not only restricted to guns, but also to rockets to missiles to ammunition, and to host of other equipment. Both the public and private sector companies have been fully integrated. We have regular interactions with them. We had one just as recently as last week. So, they are aware of our current and future requirements, and they are fully integrated with them. So, all in all, we are looking at the regiment of artillery in the future, which will be a force to reckon with and on the battlefield, which will be an arm of decision, and which will have a decisive say in the outcome of any battle.
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