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 Dhanush guns would be inducted into the Army at a ceremony to be held in Ordnance Factory Jabalpur on April 8 where senior functionaries of the Army would be present,” Army officials said.
The Army has placed an order for more than 110 of these guns with the Ordnance Factory and they would help the force to modernize its artillery which had been awaiting induction for over three decades till sometime ago.
A decade ago, the Army, DRDO and the Ordnance Factory Board kicked-off the programme to upgrade the design of the Bofors gun obtained under transfer of technology pact in the scam-tainted 1986 deal under Rajiv Gandhi regime.
The government gave a boost to the aging artillery arsenal of the Indian forces by signing deals worth Rs 5,000 crore for 145 US-made M-777 guns and Rs 4300 crore for 100 units of K-9 Vajra self-propelled guns from South Korea last year.
Dhanush can fire to the range of 38km while M-777 has a range of 30km. The weight of Dhanush is 7,000kg and M-777 is only 4,000kg. Dhanush is primarily for desert warfare and M-777 is for high-altitude deployment.
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