NEW DELHI: The Indian Army is going for emergency acquisition of six mobile AK-630 multi-barrel air defence gun systems, in what is another step towards protecting population centres from hostile drones, loiter munitions, rockets and mortars along the border with Pakistan.The procurement tender for the 30mm gun systems, which have an effective range of 4-6 km, has been issued to defence PSU Advance Weapon and Equipment India Ltd (AWEIL). “The contract will be inked under the fast-track emergency procurement mechanism approved after Operation Sindoor. More such guns, which act as close-in weapon systems because of their high rate of fire, will be ordered at a later stage,” an officer said on Saturday.The AK-630 gun systems are mounted on trailers and towed by high-mobility vehicles, which offer flexibility and rapid deployment. The gun system is capable of a cyclic rate of fire up to 3,000 rounds per minute, which creates a wall of air defence shells to destroy approaching hostile aerial objects at close ranges.“It has an all-weather fire control system for target detection and engagement during day and night as well as adverse weather conditions. The AK-630 system will be integrated into the Army‘s wider air defence command-and-control architecture Akashteer,” the officer said.This comes soon after the Army Air Defence (AAD) kicked off the acquisition process for three highly mobile regiments of the new indigenous quick reaction surface-to-air missile (QRSAM) systems, which can detect and destroy enemy aircraft, attack helicopters, drones, rockets and missiles at ranges of over 30 km, at a cost of around Rs 30,000 crore, as was reported by TOI last month.India’s existing multi-layered air defence network of foreign and indigenous systems played a crucial role in thwarting multiple waves of Turkish-origin drones and Chinese missiles launched by Pakistan during the four-day conflict in May. The AAD is also planning to go for “smart and programmable ammunition” for the L-70 and ZU-23mm guns as well as the new rapidly deployable counter-UAS (unmanned aerial systems) guns and counter-RAM (rocket, artillery and mortar) weapons.
