Dhanush artillery gun clears final trials. It is a proud moment for India as the indigenously upgraded artillery gun "Dhanush" has successfully completed final user trials and is ready for induction into the Army.
- In the mid-1980s, India procured the Swedish 155-mm Bofors howitzers gun to meet its artillery requirements. Dhanush is the upgraded version of the Bofors.
Features of Dhanush:
- It is a 155mm, 45mm calibre artillery gun.
- It has strike range of 38 kilometres (11 km more than imported Bofors guns) with accuracy and precision.
- It provides greater fire power, depending on type of ammunition used. It also has night firing capability in direct fire mode.
- It has an all-electric drive, high mobility, quick deployability, auxiliary power mode, advanced communication system and automated command and control system.
- It has six round magazine, instead of standard three round.
- Its 81% components are indigenously sourced and it will be scaled up to 90% by 2019.
- Each of this gun costs about Rs 14.50 crore while each shell costs Rs. 1 lakh.
- The Indian Army has ordered 114 guns that will be delivered within four years and the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) is confident of producing eight to 10 guns per month within two to three years.
Trial History of Dhanush:
- The first phase of trials were conducted between July and September 2016 at the Pokhran and Babina ranges.
- The second phase was conducted between October and December 2016 at the Siachen base camp with three guns.
- This was the third and final phase of user exploitation firings in which six Dhanush guns were fired in battery formation from May 31 to June 7, 2018 at the Pokhran field firing range.
- A total of 301 rounds were fired from the six guns, including burst fire.
