With the upgrade to a level of 1A6 level it would definitely be equal to the T-90's that the Russians wants to sell Pakistan. There can be some more upgrades available through Turkey as well specially after what Turkey faced in Syria.
May be then FC with their limited budget be interested as no doubt these are quite capable for the western terrain.
M-198 can fire a projectile like an ATGM, its a laser guided projectile (copperhead) which hits tops of tanks and smokes them. The FOO(forward observation officer) lases the target, M-198 fires from more than 20 km away and the projectile is guided to hit enemy tanks.
Now im not disagreeing with you - but PA wont go for it.
We know that in the past this did come up in certain places moreover PA was out numbered yet they managed to arrest the march. Reasons were that PA had to constantly change gun positions so that the Indians were not able to identify the exact position.
Infantry is supported by towed guns since infantry digs in and has to hold position and defend it. So infantry is static thus SPGs are assigned to Mechanised and armored forces. Operating SPG's is much more costly than towed guns. Fuel and maintenance, just like Tanks and APC's. Its interesting to note that Artillery consumes more rounds than Tanks in combat, thus needs more supplies than tanks.
Mi-8MTV-5 a.k.a Mi-17V-5 is capable of lifting 4500 kg load using sling.
I won't bank on this citing new CB radars,UAV's and Sats.
I hope PA spares Mi-17 for lifting Artillery while achieving desired altitude with sling or weight, highly doubtful though that Mi-17 will be shifted way up north for such Ops..
Thats alright, disagreement gives rise to discussions.
Bell 412 and 212 are also available hence if PAA decided to procure these then US would not be very difficult. Moreover PAA must also standardise because at present they are operating what ever they can find which is a nightmare in terms of maintenance.
In war time they won't Mi's are already stretched alot even in peace time.We need more helos like Mi-17.Pumas are already ageing and many airframes are going through their end days.
Bell 412 and 212 are good for SAR,Medevac,Emergency resupply,VIP Transport and SoF insertion but can't be deployed like Mi's.
You have excellent knowledge in many ground weapon systems, you have shared with us in past and should continue to do so in future. Elevate your quality with informative posts. Thats why i replied you with M-198's information to take on MBT's with weapon on lines of ATGM but having range of 20 km+ instead of usual 4-8 km range of ATGM.
No doubt they can be targeted through SEAD/DEAD by AF,but you see it work both ways.
Bharatis have been lately seen deploying state of the art drones designed by susralis for AD pen but good thing is that,they aren't huge in numbers.
Nodoubt about it, but still HUMINT assets+sats when coupled with enemy Aircrafts firing standoff PGM's would pose serious threat to Arty pos's.
