Bofors packs a punch at LoC, sends Pak diving for cover

Tipped as the backbone of and the edge to the Indian artillery8217;s firing plan, the Bofors spearheaded the destruction of 120 barracks and buildings of the Pakistani Army at the Joora Camp Neelam Valley in November. It also damaged three Brigade HQs and blew up a huge ammunition dump in the Kargil sector.

With Pakistani bombardment causing havoc to Indian military and civilian positions deep inside, everybody wanted theBofors to punch back the Pak attack. 8220;The commanders of the three forward divisions of the 15 Corps wanted all the Bofors batteries for their formations. Its performance showed it to be comparable to the best gun systems in the world,8221; said a senior Army officer.

Faced with the fact that Pakistani fire blocked the National Highway, a Bofors detachment was moved to Kargil in September. It drew blood when the guns, which can fire at angles between 79 to 81 degrees, achieved a crest clearance of 6,000 metres to annihilate a Pakistani artillery shell dump of 6,000 rounds at Shaquma.

Not a single Bofors gun was hit by Pakistani artillery, although Pakistani spotters who had infiltrated into Kashmir ensured that two Brigade HQs of the Army were hit and at least three non-Bofors gun batteries 8212; one in the Uri sector and two in the Kargil area 8212; were wrecked by accurate Pakistani fire.

Since Indian artillery had no spotters within PoK, the Bofors technology provided the much-needed accuracy. 8220;The cuttingdown of free play in the gun because of the in-built tolerance, advanced radars, updated met data through balloons in Siachen and the consistency of the shells ensured a high degree of accuracy,8221; said an Army officer, monitoring the gun8217;s performance in a forward division.

The Bofors proved that it was easy to deploy in the rugged mountains, with its powerful Scania tower backing into small spaces and manoeuvring easily. 8220;The Bofors shoot and scoot8217; ability came to good use. The gun8217;s auxiliary engine, independent of its Scania tower, allowed it to fire and then shift to pre-determined locations defying any pin-point attack by the Pakistani artillery,8221; said an artillery officer with a Bofors detachment.

In Siachen, the Bofors came to the rescue of the soldiers with Pakistan bombarding positions and helicopter supply missions with 40,000 shells and 2,20,000 small rounds fire in 1998.

8220;The Bofors, which proved accurate till 25 km in normal conditions, was firing with great precision at 35-40 km rangein the rarefied low air resistance atmosphere of Siachen, hitting deep into Pakistan-held territory. It hit Pakistani positions on the steep reverse slopes of valleys with high explosive shells forcing them to keep under cover and stop targeting Indian positions,8221; said an Army officer, who served on the glacier.

Its high rate of fire means that the Bofors shouldered the bulk of the firing. On two occasions, first in response to the bombardment of Kargil in September 1997 8212; 17 civilians died 8212; and again in August 1998 when nearly 30,000 shells were fired in a week by Pakistan, it was the Bofors-led Indian broadside from Uri to Siachen that 8220;shut up the Pakis8221;.

8220;The Army realised that goodie-goodie talk wouldn8217;t succeed with a Pakistani Army determined to escalate tension and infiltrate mercenaries. We gave back the double of what they fired and the Bofors was the prima donna

,8221; said an artillery officer.

Wherever the Indian artillery was effective, one could be sure the Bofors wasthere.

Three Brigade HQs of the Pakistani Army 8212; at Kahuta in the Haji Pir sector, at Mandal in the Lipa Valley and at Chakoti 8212; were damaged. The hits had Army officers comparing the firepower of three Bofors guns with that of three light regiments a total of 54 guns armed with a 105 mm field calibre gun.

This performance in live action is of a piece with the Bofors results in field exercises in as varied a climate as the Rajasthan desert and the wet high-attitude of the North East. 8220;In the desert from Barmer to Jaisalmer, the Bofors was used for its mobility to keep track of fast advancing armoured columns in the soft deceptive sands. Not once did it get bogged down,8221; said an Army officer.

In the North East, not only did the Bofors8217; hydraulic and electronic systems with nearly 100 sensors and radars stand the wetness of the climate, but firing at nearly 14,000 feet the gun was able to demonstrate its accuracy by targeting three shells kept within a radius of 100 yards to each other from a rangeof 12 km.