India's first indigenously built Dhanush howitzer inducted in Army

In a major boost to India's firepower, country's first indigenously designed and developed Dhanush artillery gun was inducted in the Indian Army during a ceremony held at Ordnance Factory here on Monday.

Dhanush 155mm/45 calibre towed gun system can be deployed in all types of terrains.

The Dhanush gun system is based on the designs of the Bofors howitzer which was inducted in the Army in the 1980s and would be the third type of artillery gun to be inducted into the force after the K-9 Vajra and the M-777 ultra-light howitzers.

The Army had placed an order for more than 110 of these guns with the Ordnance Factory. The howitzer will help the force to modernise its artillery which had been awaiting induction for over three decades till sometime ago.

The gun is equipped with an inertial navigation-based sighting system, auto-laying facility, onboard ballistic computation and an advanced day and night direct firing system. The self-propulsion unit allows the gun to negotiate and deploy itself in mountainous terrains with ease.

Dhanush's performance has been evaluated under arduous conditions in several phases.

The weapon is the product of joint efforts by the Ordnance Factory Board and the Indian Army with contributions from DRDO, DGQA, DPSUs such as BEL, PSUs such as SAIL and several private enterprises.