Dhanush the Indian Bofors

[Raj Malhotra]

'*Bulk* Production of 18 guns'. Pfffffft.
View attachment 9150
View attachment 9151
View attachment 9152

Total production order given is of only 18 Howitzers out of which 6 were already manufactured for R&D. Hence actual order is of only 12. Great going for indigenisation.

 

[vishwaprasad]

This is though 155 MM gun which India always lacked (barring Bofors) is still 45 caliber... why didn't they try to make it 52 caliber like a NATO standard... are we going to have later versions in 52 caliber?
Even our bofors were not 52 caliber and M777 which we are buying that too is 45 caliber gun... I would really love to see 155 MM with 52 caliber gun in Indian artillery force...

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Their is separate thread for 52cal Dhanush ..

M777 is a 39cal gun ..

This is though 155 MM gun which India always lacked (barring Bofors) is still 45 caliber... why didn't they try to make it 52 caliber like a NATO standard... are we going to have later versions in 52 caliber?Even our bofors were not 52 caliber and M777 which we are buying that too is 45 caliber gun... I would really love to see 155 MM with 52 caliber gun in Indian artillery force...

 

[Bahamut]

@Kunal Biswas
Is there any plan to put the Dhanush on mobile platform like a truck or chassis of tank instaed of being towed?

 

[Kunal Biswas]

Its probably DRDO Advance gun system or 52cal version of Dhanush will be put on Bhim in near future ..

That what CVRDE spokesman told me on defexpo 2012 ..

@Kunal Biswas
Is there any plan to put the Dhanush on mobile platform like a truck or chassis of tank instaed of being towed?

 

[mayfair]

Its probably DRDO Advance gun system or 52cal version of Dhanush will be put on Bhim in near future ..

That what CVRDE spokesman told me on defexpo 2012 ..

Is Bhim actually going to go ahead? I thought that with Vajra deal, Bhim was all but dead.

Plus, there is little to indicate that ATAGS will be mounted as a self-propelled platform.

 

[vishwaprasad]

Their is separate thread for 52cal Dhanush ..

M777 is a 39cal gun ..

Thanks Kunal.. its good to know that 52 cal Dhanush is coming.... thanks

 

[Chinmoy]

Total production order given is of only 18 Howitzers out of which 6 were already manufactured for R&D. Hence actual order is of only 12. Great going for indigenisation.

Order is for 114, not 18..........

 

[airtel]

there was a bheem howitzer , which was never inducted >>> https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhim_self-propelled_howitzer

 

[RAJESH BHATIA]

Desi Bofors to plug gap in Army’s long-range firepower - Times Of India

NEW DELHI: The desi version of the original Swedish 155mm Bofors howitzers, which proved its worth by wreaking havoc against Pakistani intruders during the 1999 Kargil conflict, is now all set to plug huge operational gaps in the long-range, high-volume firepower of the Army.

The defence ministry has placed an order worth over Rs 1,260-crore for acquisition of 114 of the artillery field guns developed by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), which has used the designs obtained under the transfer of technology (ToT) provisions in the infamous Rs 1,437-crore Bofors contract of 1986 to develop the new guns.

The order is in tune with defence minister A K Antony's latest directive, issued in the aftermath of the bribery controversy in the VVIP helicopters' contract, for a greater thrust on indigenization to avoid scams.

It will also serve to "exorcise" the almost three-decade-old Bofors ghost - which in later years got reinforced by scandals around other global artillery manufacturers like South African Denel, Israeli Soltam and Singapore Technology Kinetics (STK) - to ensure the Army failed to induct even a single 155mm howitzer since the mid-1980s.

Under the original Bofors contract, India had obtained ToT to indigenously manufacture the howitzers after inducting 410 guns but the ensuing scandal, which had led to the fall of the Rajiv Gandhi government, had put paid to all such plans.

"Now, the OFB has worked on the original drawings and electronically upgraded the guns to 45-calibre from the original 39-calibre. The new howitzers have a 38-km range compared to the 30-km of the Bofors gun," said an official.

OFB has developed two prototypes of the 155mm45-calibre guns, one with 68% indigenous parts and the other with 46%, that have been "satisfactorily tested in validation firings" in Pokran and Balasore over the last five months.

The "letter of intent" for the 114 howitzers was placed on the OFB "a couple of days ago" to ensure it can begin bulk production after the "user-trials" in June.

The Army has projected an initial requirement for 414 of these guns, each of which will cost over Rs 11 crore, as part of its long-delayed artillery modernization programme.

Interestingly, the other artillery project on the verge of being inked â€" the $647 million contract for acquisition of 145 M-777 ultra-light howitzers (ULH) from the US - also has a strong Bofors angle.

Though the ULH deal will be a direct government-to-government deal, which is said to preclude kickbacks, the 155mm39-calibre M-777s are manufactured by BAE Systems, which now owns the original Bofors firm.

"It should be signed by April-May. An Indian `maintainability evaluation team' visited the US from February 8 to 25 to examine the howitzers," said the official. The air-mobile howitzers, capable of being swiftly deployed in forward areas by helicopters and aircraft, are primarily meant for the high-altitude areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh to counter China.

The other 155mm52-calibre artillery projects, in the overall Rs 30,000 crore artillery modernization plan, include the purchase of 100 self-propelled tracked guns from a foreign vendor and the development of 814 mounted gun systems through a joint venture with the private sector.

But the biggest one is the over Rs 12,000-crore project to buy 400 towed artillery guns, followed by indigenous manufacture of another 1,180 such guns after transfer of technology from the foreign vendor. This project has been derailed at least a couple of times in the past, the last time after STK was blacklisted due to the corruption scandal against former OFB chairman Sudipto Ghosh.

================================

Sorry if posted earlier...

I am in process of developing few parts being asked by various defence factories but challenge is to get raw material as per Bofors drawings. Can any body help in sourcing right raw material as per drawings within india or overseas
[


QUOTE="arnabmit, post: 706554, member: 12445"]Desi Bofors to plug gap in Army’s long-range firepower - Times Of India

NEW DELHI: The desi version of the original Swedish 155mm Bofors howitzers, which proved its worth by wreaking havoc against Pakistani intruders during the 1999 Kargil conflict, is now all set to plug huge operational gaps in the long-range, high-volume firepower of the Army.

The defence ministry has placed an order worth over Rs 1,260-crore for acquisition of 114 of the artillery field guns developed by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), which has used the designs obtained under the transfer of technology (ToT) provisions in the infamous Rs 1,437-crore Bofors contract of 1986 to develop the new guns.

The order is in tune with defence minister A K Antony's latest directive, issued in the aftermath of the bribery controversy in the VVIP helicopters' contract, for a greater thrust on indigenization to avoid scams.

It will also serve to "exorcise" the almost three-decade-old Bofors ghost - which in later years got reinforced by scandals around other global artillery manufacturers like South African Denel, Israeli Soltam and Singapore Technology Kinetics (STK) - to ensure the Army failed to induct even a single 155mm howitzer since the mid-1980s.

Under the original Bofors contract, India had obtained ToT to indigenously manufacture the howitzers after inducting 410 guns but the ensuing scandal, which had led to the fall of the Rajiv Gandhi government, had put paid to all such plans.

"Now, the OFB has worked on the original drawings and electronically upgraded the guns to 45-calibre from the original 39-calibre. The new howitzers have a 38-km range compared to the 30-km of the Bofors gun," said an official.

OFB has developed two prototypes of the 155mm45-calibre guns, one with 68% indigenous parts and the other with 46%, that have been "satisfactorily tested in validation firings" in Pokran and Balasore over the last five months.

The "letter of intent" for the 114 howitzers was placed on the OFB "a couple of days ago" to ensure it can begin bulk production after the "user-trials" in June.

The Army has projected an initial requirement for 414 of these guns, each of which will cost over Rs 11 crore, as part of its long-delayed artillery modernization programme.

Interestingly, the other artillery project on the verge of being inked â€" the $647 million contract for acquisition of 145 M-777 ultra-light howitzers (ULH) from the US - also has a strong Bofors angle.

Though the ULH deal will be a direct government-to-government deal, which is said to preclude kickbacks, the 155mm39-calibre M-777s are manufactured by BAE Systems, which now owns the original Bofors firm.

"It should be signed by April-May. An Indian `maintainability evaluation team' visited the US from February 8 to 25 to examine the howitzers," said the official. The air-mobile howitzers, capable of being swiftly deployed in forward areas by helicopters and aircraft, are primarily meant for the high-altitude areas of Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh to counter China.

The other 155mm52-calibre artillery projects, in the overall Rs 30,000 crore artillery modernization plan, include the purchase of 100 self-propelled tracked guns from a foreign vendor and the development of 814 mounted gun systems through a joint venture with the private sector.

But the biggest one is the over Rs 12,000-crore project to buy 400 towed artillery guns, followed by indigenous manufacture of another 1,180 such guns after transfer of technology from the foreign vendor. This project has been derailed at least a couple of times in the past, the last time after STK was blacklisted due to the corruption scandal against former OFB chairman Sudipto Ghosh.

================================

Sorry if posted earlier...[/QUOTE]

 

[Kunal Biswas]

What that Gentleman told me is that ARDE has been tasked to make a 52cal to mount on Bhim ..

Vajra is immediate stop gap solution, Their will be 400 tracked SPGH in future as per future requirements ..

Is Bhim actually going to go ahead? I thought that with Vajra deal, Bhim was all but dead.

Plus, there is little to indicate that ATAGS will be mounted as a self-propelled platform.

 

[Hari Sud]

Any information on M777 acquisition. Last report was the MOD had asked for 30 days extension in August to get all documentation completed before signatures. Those thirty days are long over. At What stage is the final signatures document?

Obama days are nearing end, hence Obama Admin concurrence is needed that it should be done in next week or so.

If this matter gets extended and has to be dealt by Hillary or Trump, add unneccassry delay due to new set of officials who will take over.

 

[mayfair]

Any information on M777 acquisition. Last report was the MOD had asked for 30 days extension in August

Actually it was reported that GoI had requested a 3 month extension until December.

http://www.financialexpress.com/eco...time-freeze-on-price-to-buy-howitzers/355565/

Despite giving approval to import $750-million 145 BAE Systems’ M777A2 155mm/39 calibre lightweight howitzers from the US through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) route, India has sought freeze on the price for three more months.

Highly-placed sources told FE that “the deadline for signing the deal is September 10, but the ministry of defence (MoD) is planning to seek three-month extension and a freezing of the price of 145 M777A2 LW155 howitzers for the Indian Army”.

Not sure how correct this report is as it cites unnamed sources in MoD.

 

[tejas warrior]

A batch of six Dhanush guns ( with three already delivered for sure) are undergoing production level prototype trials.

 

[Hari Sud]

These unending trials are designed to prove them defective. The clever Indian Army generals use every trick in the book to block local production.

 

[prateikf]

The Army generals are not so clever after all. Their efforts to buy a single imported howitzer, SPH, carbine, assault rifle, etc have failed consistently for the last 20 years or so. Paki army generals seem to be way to clever, so much so they have an entire nation to serve their purpose.

 

[HariPrasad-1]

This is though 155 MM gun which India always lacked (barring Bofors) is still 45 caliber... why didn't they try to make it 52 caliber like a NATO standard... are we going to have later versions in 52 caliber?
Even our bofors were not 52 caliber and M777 which we are buying that too is 45 caliber gun... I would really love to see 155 MM with 52 caliber gun in Indian artillery force...

52 caliber gun is useful if special cells are used else its performance shall be same as of 45 caliber gun.

 

[Navnit Kundu]

The other 155mm52-calibre artillery projects, in the overall Rs 30,000 crore artillery modernization plan, include the purchase of 100 self-propelled tracked guns from a foreign vendor

I think that is the K9 Samsung/Vajra from Korea. That deal has been signed.

and the development of 814 mounted gun systems through a joint venture with the private sector.

This is the one which TATA SED developed.

But the biggest one is the over Rs 12,000-crore project to buy 400 towed artillery guns, followed by indigenous manufacture of another 1,180 such guns after transfer of technology from the foreign vendor. This project has been derailed at least a couple of times in the past, the last time after STK was blacklisted due to the corruption scandal against former OFB chairman Sudipto Ghosh.

@pmaitra Check this out, this was the corruption in OFB I was talking about. I couldn't recall it yesterday. There are also others, but yet again my memory and browser history don't seem to be supporting me.

 

[HariPrasad-1]

I think that is the K9 Samsung/Vajra from Korea. That deal has been signed.



This is the one which TATA SED developed.

@pmaitra Check this out, this was the corruption in OFB I was talking about. I couldn't recall it yesterday. There are also others, but yet again my memory and browser history don't seem to be supporting me.

I am surprised that why Tata and Baba kalyani guns are not considered?

 

[Navnit Kundu]

I am surprised that why Tata and Baba kalyani guns are not considered?

I think they are considered, I saw a CNN news report from old times where that Baba dude seemed upbeat about the new orders which were poised to come his way. It's just that the communication is not structured. So one day we hear on one forum that TATA gun has been selected then someone on Twitter says that it has been cancelled and replaced by M777, then someone says K9 Vajra, in the end we get confused. This drama of artillery is going on since Bofors scandal, still no new guns have come. That and that Arjun tank, whose status I never seem to remember. Is that project alive? or have we cancelled it? one day someone says we are getting MK2, someone says we are buying more T90 as a stop gap solution, then someone says we will buy Armata to replace MK2, I don't know what we are getting in the end.

See this :