NEW DELHI: Pakistan is expanding its Chinese artillery inventory on a previously unreported scale, having more than doubled its SH-15 procurement to over 500 155 mm self-propelled howitzers, with more than 200 already inducted into service, as it rebuilds and strengthens the artillery arm it relied on during Operation Sindoor, sources in the defence and security establishment told The New Indian Express.
More than 200 of the truck-mounted 155 mm/52-calibre guns supplied by Chinese defence major NORINCO have already entered service, allowing the Pakistan Army to raise around 12 artillery regiments, each comprising 18 guns organised into three batteries of six guns, the sources said. Before this, only a 2019 contract for 236 SH-15 guns had been publicly documented.
The inductions, however, have not translated into a matching forward deployment. While several reports have suggested that around 250 SH-15 guns are deployed opposite India, a sizeable number remain in reserve, with the 250 figure reflecting Pakistan’s projected inventory rather than its actual deployment along the Line of Control, the sources said.
“A sizeable number have been kept in reserve. The figure of 250 guns along the border being cited is a projected inventory, not the actual forward posture,” a source clarified.
During Operation Sindoor, Pakistan employed Chinese-origin artillery systems, including in cross-border firing targeting civilian areas in Rajouri and Poonch, according to Indian officials. Islamabad has since accelerated its artillery modernisation, with the SH-15 emerging as the backbone of its future self-propelled gun fleet.
The SH-15 is claimed as an export variant of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s PCL-181 mounted howitzer. Mounted on a 6x6 Shaanxi high-mobility truck chassis, the “shoot-and-scoot” artillery system has claimed a speed of up to 90 kmph and can fire NATO-standard 155 mm ammunition to ranges of about 40 km. Additionally, rocket-assisted projectiles reportedly extend its reach beyond 50 km. Deliveries under the original contract began in January 2022.
Sources added that Pakistan has also secured transfer of technology (ToT) from China, paving the way for eventual manufacture of the SH-15 at Heavy Industries Taxila.
The artillery build-up also underscores Pakistan’s deepening defence partnership with Beijing. According to the latest data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), China now accounts for more than 80 per cent of Pakistan’s major arms imports, including JF-17 and J-10C fighter aircraft armed with long-range PL-15 beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles, HQ-9/P long-range air defence systems, Type 054A/P frigates, armed drones, missile systems and air-independent-powered (AIP) Hangor-class submarines.
The relationship has also moved beyond hardware transfers. Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Rahul R. Singh said in July last year that during Operation Sindoor, China provided Pakistan with satellite-based intelligence on Indian force deployments and operational vectors, with Pakistan acting as the “front face” while Beijing extended what he described as “all possible support.”
In May this year, China’s defence ministry confirmed that the two countries had agreed to further deepen practical military cooperation.
India’s own artillery modernisation, meanwhile, continues to lag on timelines. The defence ministry signed a Rs 6,900-crore contract in March last year with Bharat Forge and Tata Advanced Systems for 307 Advanced Towed Artillery Gun Systems (ATAGS), developed by DRDO. Deliveries are yet to begin, with the first regiment of 18 guns expected to enter service only around February 2027 after completion of mandatory product-model trials.
With a strike range of nearly 48 km, the ATAGS will progressively replace the Army’s ageing 105 mm Indian Field Guns and 130 mm M-46 guns across 15 regiments.
Until then, the K9 Vajra-T remains the Army’s only self-propelled 155 mm artillery system fielded in significant numbers, alongside the Dhanush and Sharang towed guns and the Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher system. The Army also ordered another 100 K9 Vajra-T guns from Larsen & Toubro in December 2024, adding to the 100 already in service.
