Dhanush the Indian Bofors

[praneet.bajpaie]

Can anybody please try to justify this meagre figure of 18? When we talked about lca, it was a great decision to increase orders to generate a manufcturing base by a large order.
how to justify a small order of 18 when 20 or 40 lca were unjustifiable.
how can a production facility be set up by 18 pieces?
What about the previously talked order of 114?

I am sure they will increase the order later. As per wiki (credible source, eh), 414 pieces are supposed to be ordered by 2020. Someone in the know, please confirm or deny.

 

[Zebra]

Rate of production depends on the order of items...
Less order means less production....Keep that in mind if 414 order is finished in 4 years then what factory sits idle, so to keep factory running for max time production will be less

There were looking for 1600+ guns in mid 1980s.

 

[tharun]

There were looking for 1600+ guns in mid 1980s.

That's 1980 but today is 2016..............

 

[Zebra]

That's 1980 but today is 2016..............

Sorry, I was not aware the they are not allowed to order more guns in 2016.

 

[Raj Malhotra]

Army is doing an Arjun (or worse) on Dhansuh. Total of 114 howitzer order for Dhanush 45 were promised out of which only 18 have been given. Even if Army order the whole of 114, it will take 3 years to produce 18+36+60 per annum. Order of 414 is just pie in the sky which is not happening.

Army has already indicated that it will shift to Dhanush 52 after 114 orders but as of yet no orders have been given.

After a few order of Dhanush, the army will shift to ATAGS and for which only 140 orders have been promised, inspite of ATAGS being the most advanced Howitzer in the world.

 

[ezsasa]

I remember seeing Dhanesh's planned delivery schedule in Saurav Jha's Twitter time line within the last two week, this order of 18 seems to be as per that plan.

I faintly remember that the production plan is one gun per month, I could be wrong in my interpretation.

Unable to find that tweet, can anyone check if they get lucky on this.

 

[tejas warrior]

'*Bulk* Production of 18 guns'. Pfffffft.

 

[tharun]

How many 155 artillery is being procured?

 

[Rushil51]

00000000000000000000000

 

[Indx TechStyle]

Gun Carriage Factory hands over three 'Dhanush' guns to army

​

The trials saw some 2,000 rounds being successfully fired from the gun in different climatic conditions like in snowy, desert and hostile areas in the country.​

BHOPAL: Three indigenously-developed 155 mm 'Dhanush' artillery guns have been handed over to the Indian Army by the Jabalpur-based Gun Carriage Factory (GCF).

"Three 155 mm howitzers (Dhanush) have been handed over to the army recently for user's trial," GCF's Joint General Manager and PRO Sanjay Shrivastava said.

GCF is an ordnance factory, which received its first order of 500 transport carts in 1905.

"Another consignment of three guns is being readied and these howitzers too will be delivered to the army shortly," Shrivastava said.

The gun, a towed howitzer with a strike range of 38 km, has been developed by Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Kolkata, after going through the design and voluminous documents running into over 12,000 pages which were delivered to India under the first phase of Transfer of Technology (ToT) as part of the Bofors gun deal in the late 80s, another official said.

The army had demanded the six howitzers following successful summer and winter trials of the artillery gun.

The trials saw some 2,000 rounds being successfully fired from the gun in different climatic conditions like in snowy, desert and hostile areas in the country, he said.

The army had been looking for a total of 114 Dhanush guns from GCF to augment its firepower, he further said.

According to the official, the army needs a huge number of howitzers of different types, and Indian firms, some with the help of foreign manufacturers, are in the race to fulfil the demand with the gun's variants.

Costing around Rs 14 crore a piece, Dhanush, (aka 'Desi Bofors') is comparable to most current generation weapon systems which are in use by different countries, he said.

Along with electronic gun-laying and sighting systems and other features, the indigenous gun has an enhanced 11-km range as against the 27-km range of the imported Bofors.

The Indian Army had stationed a special team of officers at the GCF to help monitor the progress, coordinate proof resources and provide guidance regarding the qualitative requirements vis-a-vis the gun system from the user's perspective, the official said.

"A team from the 506 Army Base Workshop, close to GCF, had constantly provided technical inputs which it acquired by repairing Bofors gun for over two decades," he said.

The Swedish Bofors company (now owned by Britain's BAE System) could not complete the ToT for the 155 mm howitzer with 39 calibre to India, as the deal got embroiled in a major political row over alleged kickbacks in 80s.

Subsequently, the OFB struggled for a long time to produce the howitzer indigenously despite the fact that it has manufactured and supplied several components or spare parts to keep the Bofors howitzers operational in India, especially during Kargil war.

The army had been desperately looking for 155 mm howitzers for more than a decade now. It had roped in an Israeli company Soltam to upgrade the imported, Russian-made 130 mm gun to 155 mm at GCF. But the project, after the upgraded gun's trial, ran into hot water, the official claimed.

Four years ago, the Defence Acquisition Council decided to look for artillery guns within the country and asked the OFB to start manufacturing howitzers.

Towards that end, former Defence Minister AK Antony flagged off a 155 mm gun manufacturing facility at GCF on September 22, 2012.

"The project has received support and active cooperation from other ordnance factories, PSUs such as SAIL, BEL, and many private sector companies. Their support has made the project a huge success," the official added.

The move had come after four international howitzer firms - Soltam, Denel, Singapore Technologies Kinetics and Rheinmetall - were blacklisted by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over allegations of graft.

READ MORE:
Soltam|Ordnance Factory Board|Ministry of Defence|Gun Carriage Factory|dhanush|Bofors

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Finally India received very first 155mm Guns in decades after repeated failed tenders ..

This induction could have been earlier ..

 

[Kunal Biswas]

The Gun was ready for trails back in 2013 ..

 

[Yumdoot]

Dhanush go ahead by A. K. Anthony from Congress.
Indian Army actively cooperates with Gun Carriage Factory.
Inducted within 2 years of BJP govt.

Shows clearly that they can work together and deliver.

Ergo. If they are not working together, then one or all are doing that deliberately.

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Only When pointed out and pushed by Gen V.K Singh and even now he is working hard ..

Dhanush go ahead by A. K. Anthony from Congress.

 

[sorcerer]

Desi Bofors better than original one, says Parrikar

By Ajit Kumar Dubey | August 06, 2016

(File) Dahnush 155 mm gun by OFB being displayed at the DefExpo 2016 in Goa | Arvind Jain

The Indian version of the controversial but battle proven Bofors artillery guns Dhanush is much better than the original howitzers in terms of its striking range and automated equipment, says Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

The Dhanush guns are being manufactured by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) based on the designs of the original Bofors Ag supplied to India in the 1980s.

"Special features of Dhanush guns are that it has 8 km more range than Bofors and is equipped with several other modern systems. We have already placed orders for 114 guns with the OFB," Parrikar said.

The other features which help the desi Bofors score over the original version include 'modified double baffle muzzle brake and a modified loading trough to accommodate Bi Modular Charge System (BMCS)."

The gun, a towed howitzer, with a strike range of 38 km, was developed by Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Kolkata, after going through the design and voluminous documents, running into more than 12,000 pages, which were delivered to India under the first phase of transfer of technology as part of the Bofors gun deal in late 80s. At the moment, the army has been given six prototypes of the gun by the OFB for extensive user trials.

Meanwhile, the army will get a boost in its artillery as the government is also close to signing a contract with the US government for the supply of 145 M777 ultra light howitzers.

The procurement of the $750 howitzers was recently cleared by Parrikar at the meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) by Parrikar.

As part of the contract, 25 guns will come to India in a fly-away condition, while the rest would be assembled at the proposed Assembly Integration and Test facility for the weapon system in India in partnership with Mahindra Defence Systems.

The Indian Army has been deprived of a new artillery gun since the late 1980s, when the Bofors scandal happened and India put a stop on all gun procurement from Bofors of Switzerland.

However, the gun performed very well during the 1999 Kargil conflict with Pakistan and hit the fortified Pakistani Army bunkers in direct-fire mode at high altitudes leading to the victory of Indian forces in the limited war.

After the scam, the Indian Army has tried on various occasions to buy new guns but at least four tenders were cancelled due to various reasons.

http://www.theweek.in/news/india/desi-bofors-better-than-original-Parrikar.html

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Conformed 114 are ordered not just 18 ..

 

[Sachin Bajaj]

People of India are really grateful to Indian army and heartiest thanks for their utmost dedication and perseverance for their country.

 

[tejas warrior]

Good opportunity to Fire them in Real Battle scenarios and increase the Orders.

 

[Sachin Bajaj]

People of India are really grateful to Indian army and heartiest thanks for their utmost dedication and perseverance for their country.

Indian Army battles to all odds and let the country survive in peace. But barely we know about them.The Better India is such a platform which let us mingle with our army hero.

 

[The Last Stand]

Please do not use your IRL photo.

-30-chars