Indigenous 155mm Dhanush Towed Gun System: ‘Desi Bofors’ to improve Indian Army’s firepower along Pakistan, China borders

As part of the Indian Army’s operational readiness, the indigenous 155mm Dhanush Towed Gun System is under induction. The gun system is going to qualitatively improve the firepower of Indian artillery and is also expected to make way for the private sector gun manufacturing companies. Indian Army has placed an order for a total of 114 `Dhanush’ with the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).

During the ongoing Army Commanders Conference, the top commanders discussed various options for the employment of this gun, sources confirmed to Financial Express Online.

The OFB will hand over 18 155mm x 45 calibre artillery guns to the army’s Central Ordnance Depot in Jabalpur and before the year ends these indigenous guns will be deployed along the Pakistan and China frontiers. These are being under production at the Jabalpur-based Gun Carriage Factory (GCF), at a cost of Rs 14.50 crore.

The indigenous gun — towed and self-propelled mode has undergone extensive trials in extreme weather conditions as well as difficult terrains across the country including Sikkim, Leh, Odisha and Jhansi.

The guns will come with almost 85 per cent indigenous material has a range of 38 km and in the army, it is classified as ‘medium artillery’. There has been active participation of both private and public sector companies like SAIL, BEL working with the OFB on this project. Also, besides the Indian Army, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), as well as DGQA, have been actively involved in this project. The Gun Carriage Factory had received the order for Dhanush in 2011, and the first prototype was made in 2014.
More about Dhanush ::

- The indigenous gun comes with inertial navigation-based sighting system.
- It has an advanced day and night direct firing system.
- On-board ballistic computation.
- Mechanically it has been upgraded to fire NATO standard 155 mm ammunition.
- It comes with a self-propulsion unit and this for the gun to be self-deployed in mountainous terrains.
- Bi-modular charge system (BMCS) which help in increasing the range.
- The gun has been upgraded electronically which helps in enhancing firing accuracies.
- It is also compatible with other kinds of ammunition.

 The induction of this type of gun is part of the Indian Army’s ‘mediumisation’ of the artillery and under this will replace ‘field guns’ of a calibre such as 105 mm and 120 mm.



financialexpress