New Delhi: Kalyani Strategic Systems Limited (KSSL), the defence arm of Bharat Forge unveiled its MArG series, a truck-mounted 155mm artillery systems built around a 4x4 high-mobility vehicle (HMV) chassis.
The launch places an Indian private manufacturer at the centre of one of the defence industry’s most keenly watched competitions: the search for wheeled artillery that is lighter, faster and cheaper than the traditional six- or eight-wheeled self-propelled guns that dominate the European market.
Eurosatory, held every two years at the Paris Nord Villepinte exhibition centre, is widely regarded as the world's foremost land and air-land defence show.
Three variants, one platform
The MArG series comprises three configurations, all sharing a common 4x4 platform: the MArG 39 (39-calibre), optimised for mobility and tactical flexibility; the MArG 45 (45-calibre), aimed at a balance between range and firepower; and the MArG 52 (52-calibre), designed for extended-range, high-performance missions.
The logic is straightforward, armies choose the calibre configuration that fits their terrain and doctrine while retaining commonality in crew training, logistics and spare parts.
The MArG 39 weighs 22 tonnes all-up, considerably less than comparable 6x6 or 8x8 mounted gun systems, and can negotiate gradients of up to 25 degrees, a specification that matters in mountainous or infrastructure-poor terrain.
The system carries 18 rounds on board and can sustain a rate of fire of 42 rounds in 60 minutes, with a burst rate of 10 rounds in three minutes. The elevation range is minus-2 degrees to plus-72 degrees.
Coming into action takes 1.5 minutes in daylight and two minutes at night, which is the critical metric for shoot-and-scoot survival.
The gun fires NATO-standard 155mm ammunition, including precision-guided munitions. A modern fire-control system enables network-centric targeting and digitised artillery coordination.
What the executives said
The vice chairman and joint managing director of Bharat Forge, Amit Kalyani, described the MArG as drawing on six decades of the group's precision engineering and metallurgical work.
Amit Kalyani positioned the series as a new global benchmark for deployable artillery, with an explicit pitch to partner nations looking to build their own defence industrial capacity, not merely buy finished systems.
Neelesh Tungar, the chief executive of KSSL, pointed to the system's ability to operate in terrain that heavier artillery cannot reach, mountains, cities and constrained infrastructure environments, and stressed the importance of local production and sustainment close to the end-user.
