NEW DELHI: Dhanush artillery guns, desi version of Swedish-made Bofors, are currently undergoing the final confirmatory trials.
And if the indigenously manufactured guns were indeed to make the grade, their production would be greenlighted the Army, which has not bought any artillery guns in the last 30 years.
Defence sources said if the confirmatory tests returned positive results it would pave the way for Bulk Production Clearance(BPC).“The confirmatory trials are going on and if they prove to be successful, the guns will go in for bulk production for the Army,” they said.
In the first phase, the Army would place an order worth over Rs 1,200 crore for 114 such guns with the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB). The Gun Carriage Factory, Jabalpur, plans to supply six guns within as many months and another 12 within the next one year, before ramping up the production.
Dhanush would be the first artillery gun to be acquired by the Army since the purchase of Bofors guns from Stockholm in 1987. It is a modified version of the artillery guns and had undergone winter trials in 2013 and summer trials in 2014. Earlier this year, Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had said the tests on the 155/45mm calibre Dhanush gun were successful. Sources said minor changes were effected post the trials, following which the confirmation trials had commenced.
The OFB is a conglomerate of 39 Ordnance Factories, with another two new projects being set up at Nalanda in Bihar and Korwa in UP.