The Annual Army Tech Seminar (ARTECH-2018), conducted at the Manekshaw Convention Centre, Delhi Cantonment, on January 8, 2017 also played host to displays of selected innovations of the Indian Army that originated from both within the Indian Army, as well as from Indian industries.
Shown above is a Royal Enfield 350 motorbike that was modified last year into a three-wheeler for towing the in-service 120mm Thomson-Brandt AM-50 mortars along mule-tracks in high-altitude terrain. When such 120mm mortars were ordered for deployment in Sikkim during the Doklam standoff, it as discovered that an eight-man crew would be required for dfisassembling each mortar, then strapping them up on a mule-train, and then trudging along for nine hours in order to reach the final destination. The Corps of Electrical & Mechanical Engineers then decided to modify the Royal Enfield 350 motorbike into a towing vehicle, and attach an Eicher-made small engine at the bike’s rear as a booster—all designed to tow the 120mm mortar. The end-result: such a contraption successfully deployed the mortars within a timeframe of one hour while cruising at a speed of 30kph! This modification kit has since been specified for all formations deployed throughout the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir.
HIMSHAKTI & HIMRAAJ CIEWS
