The DRDO-developed Mounted Gun System (MGS) which has the ability to engage targets 45-kilometres away, will boost the Indian Army’s long-range firepower. Speaking to Chakra News Editor-in-Chief Sandeep Unnithan, Dr Prashant Kishore, the DRDO’s Director General Armaments and Combat Engineering Systems said the MGS was essentially an ATAGS mounted on an 8x8 Tatra truck giving it shoot and scoot capability. 

“The MGS has the same capability as the ATAGS and the firing of zone seven ammunition which reaches up to 45 kilometres with the mobility, quick engagement and disengagement in any kind of an operational scenario,” he said.

Regular towed artillery has to be hauled into combat by a large truck called a tractor. The ammunition and crew are carried separately. A mounted gun system however is a high-mobility vehicle carrying a 155 mm howitzer, firing crew and ammunition as a compact firing unit. 

The MGS can transition from the ‘drive mode’ to the ‘fire mode’ in 80 seconds and go back to drive mode in 85 seconds. 

The MGS has an indigenous content of over 75 per cent Dr Kishore said. The MGS designs were handed over to Bharat Forge Private Ltd, the DRDO’s industry partner on June 7 his year. The DRDO would give the technology to produce the MGS to all eligible industry partners, Dr Kishore said. 

The Indian Army has a requirement of 814 Mounted Gun Systems as part of its artillery upgradation project. The army will shortly begin summer and winter trials for this system. The DRDO’s MGS weighs 31.5 tonnes but its developers have finished the analysis to bring down the weight of the system to less than 30 tonnes.

The DRDO began development of the Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) in 2013 and trials were completed by 2022. 

In March 2025, the Cabinet Committee on Security cleared the purchase of 307 towed variants of the ATAGS and 327 6x6 gun towing tractors for an estimated Rs 6,900 crore. DRDO has completed all our internal trials with the MGS including road mobility trials and also the firing trials. The gun had met all performance requirements as per DRDO requirements. 

Deepak Bhadana

Over the past decade, Deepak Bhadana has built expertise in multimedia storytelling, with a focus on military conflicts, insurgencies, international relations, the defence industry, and occasionally, wildlife and environmental issues.