NewGate Press Network

A day after the 75th anniversary of Independence Day, Defence Minister  Rajnath Singh marked the August 16th 2022 as day when Indian Army formally took possession of multiple state of art weapons systems – all made in India.

Defence Minister handed over the F-INSAS system to the Indian Army in presence of Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande and Lt Gen Harpal Singh.

Indian Army’s Futuristic Infantry Soldier as a System (F-INSAS) soldier gave a briefing to Defence Minister on his new weapon systems and aids including the AK-203 assault rifle.

Anti-personnel mine NIPUN was also handed over to the Indian Army, by Defence Minister Singh. Around 7 lakh of these mines would be provided to the force manufactured by the Indian private sector industry.

The indigenously manufactured weapons that were given part to the Army included Landing Craft Attack for operations in Pangong lake, infantry combat vehicles and many other systems.

Earlier for the first time in the history of India, the indigenously developed artillery gun ATAGS (Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System) prototype developed under the government’s Make in India initiative were fired from the Red Fort during the Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

The completely indigenous gun designed and developed by DRDO will give the ceremonial 21 Gun Salute along with the “25 Pounder British guns” which are traditionally fired till now. A team of DRDO’s Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune led by Scientists and Artillery Officers have been responsible for making this possible.

The ATAGS project was started in 2013 by DRDO to replace older guns in service in the Indian Army with a modern 155mm artillery gun. ARDE partnered with two private firms Bharat Forge Limited and Tata Advanced Systems Limited for the manufacturing of this specialised gun.