1. Home
2. Jammu

The fire power with the Indian army

MAJOR KULBIR SINGH. Dated: 5/25/2017 10:47:50 AM

Dhanush howitzer: They have capability to reduce enemy defenses to rubble!

Major Kulbir Singh
Jammu, May 24
This gun fires as if it is unleashing shells at the enemy like the great warrior Arjuna let them go from his legendary Gandeeva. It is an indigenously manufactured gun by the DRDO (now I do not have to tell you the full description of the abbreviation) and the Indian gunners use it to perfection.
The Dhanush is a 155 mm towed howitzer used by the Indian Army. The design is based on Bofors, now Haubits FH77 which India acquired in the 1980s. The gun as of June 2016 has entered into active production with confirmed order of 414 guns. The Dhanush project was started by OFB to replace the older 105 mm Indian Field Gun, 105 mm Light Field Gun and the Russian 122 mm guns with a modern 155mm artillery gun.
The initial indigenous development of artillery guns in India started way back in the 1970s by the Artillery Gun Development Team under Brig Gurdyal Singh at Gun Carriage Factory, Jabalpur and resulted in the induction of 105mm artillery guns in the Indian Army. Later with the purchase of Bofors and the corruption issue resulted in no artillery guns procured for the Indian Army. The purchase of Bofors gun in the 1980's included the technology transfer to OFB. After years being unable to acquire or import foreign artillery guns due to corruption charges OFB came out with the Dhanush gun which is an improved version from the Bofors design. In trials it came out better by 20 to 25 percent than the bofors in parameters like range, accuracy, consistency, low and high angle of fire and shoot-and-scoot ability.
DRDO 155 mm artillery gun or Version 2 of the Dhanush is under development. It will upgrade the current 155 mm/45 caliber to 155 mm/52 caliber. Dhanush v2 larger calibre ordnance will increase the strike range by 4 km to 42 km. Three Dhanush guns have been handed over to the Indian Army for user trials on July 2016. The Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) project was started in 2013 by DRDO to replace older guns in service in the Indian Army with a modern 155mm artillery gun. Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE) partnered with Kalyani Group, Tata Power and OFB for this purpose.
The development of the gun took about 4 years and is expected to be complete by March 2017. The delay in completion of the project was attributed to realization of ordnance and recoil system and supply issue with manufacturing of sub-systems. The gun is expected to start user trials in 2017 and production is expected to start in 2019. It was first publicly showcased at 68th Republic Day parade on 26 January 2017.
The gun comprises of barrel, breech mechanism, muzzle brake and recoil mechanism to fire 155 mm calibre ammunitions with a firing range of 40km. It has an all electric drive to ensure reliability and minimum maintenance over a long period of time. It has advanced features like high mobility, quick deployability, auxiliary power mode, advanced communication system, automatic command and control system with night capability in direct fire mode. The gun is two ton lighter than guns in the same category and is designed to provide better accuracy and range and is capable of firing five successive rounds in short duration. It is also compatible with ACCCS-Shakti command and control network of the Indian Army.
DRDO conducted the proof firing of armament for the 155/52 calibre Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System on 14 July 2016. The test was successful. Fully integrated, 155-millimeter artillery gun fired its first rounds of live ammunition at the Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE) in Balasore, Odisha on 14 December 2016. Now what the enemy has to say?