OFB, Defence Ministry sign pact to upgrade 300 artillery guns

The Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) said on Friday that it has signed a contract with the Ministry of Defence for 'up-gunning' of 300 existing artillery guns that will enhance the Army's strategic capabilites in terms of range and lethality.

The upgradation, involving the changing of the barrel, would mean an increase in the range of the guns.

OFB will 'upgun' 300 existing 130 mm M-46 guns to 155 mm/45 calibre and will be required to deliver them within four years, Gagan Chaturvedi, deputy director general of OFB, said.

"This up-gunning is a highly cost-effective solution to substantially enhance the strategic capabilities of the lndian Army in terms of range and lethality and artillery area coverage against the enemy," he said.

 

OFB signed the contract on Thursday, he said.

"The upgraded weapon system has been christened as 'Sharang', after the bow of Lord Vishnu, which was crafted by Lord Vishwakarma," Chaturvedi said.

OFB competed with two foreign manufacturers and won the contract with a fully indigenous solution for up-gunning of the artillery guns, he said.

Various performance parameters, including maximum range, direct fire, rate of fire, accuracy and consistency, were evaluated during evaluation trials through actual firing at the Pokhran range, Chaturvedi said.

Stating that 'Sharang' was the only compliant gun after the completion of the trials, he said that the indigenously developed weapon is aimed at meeting the Army's requirement to replace the existing Russian-made 130 mm calibre M-46 towed guns, which have been in service since 1968.

The range will increase from the existing 27 km to 39 km, lethality will increase from 130 mm ammunition to 155 mm ammunition, he said.

The OFB official said that this will be a big step in the ongoing modernisation efforts of the Indian Army and "in the long run, the export potential of this gun can be profitably explored".

Stating that Sharang has performed exceedingly well in accuracy and consistency trials, Chaturvedi said that design optimisation was done at Ordnance Development Centre at Kanpur and manufacturing of the guns at the Ordnance Factory there.

Sharang weighs 8.4 tonnes, with an overall length and width of 11.84 m and 2.45 m respectively, he said adding that the barrel is approximately 7 m long and is equipped with a single baffle muzzle brake and horizontal sliding wedge breech block.