A vast promise
The Field Artillery Rationalisation Plan envisaged approximately 3,000–3,600 weapons to replace systems in 169 artillery regiments. The proposed total included several distinct types: towed guns, mounted guns, wheeled and tracked self-propelled systems, and ultra-light howitzers. The programme was to draw on imports, licensed production, and weapons developed within India.
The plan also grew through later acquisition proposals. The Artillery Profile 2027, drafted in 2008, elaborated the modernization effort, while individual programmes introduced their own orders, trials, and approval stages.
A striking audit finding
In 2023, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India reported that only 8% of the howitzers planned for purchase by the Ministry of Defence had been received. The report also said there was no visibility on the outcome of the remaining 77% of proposed procurement.
Those figures capture a gap between stated ambition and equipment actually delivered. The plan contains a long list of projects at different stages: some guns have entered service, others have completed trials or received procurement clearance, and still others remain under tender or development.
Why progress is hard to measure
The programmes described in the plan reveal how many steps lie between a requirement and a delivered gun. A project may need field validation, government approval, a contract, production arrangements, components, and delivery to a regiment. The Dhanush, for example, experienced a production pause because a spare part was unavailable; the M777 procurement was postponed and restarted before its order was completed.
The audit’s finding makes the central question unavoidable: not how many guns have been proposed, but how many have reached the army—and when the rest will follow. In a modernization effort measured in thousands, delivery is the true measure of progress.