In a major boost to the firepower of Indian Army, the first batch of Dhanush artillery guns shall be delivered to them by the upcoming week. This has been announced in a recent press statement by the government officials.
In the wake of the dastardly Pulwama attacks, approximately 114 Dhanush artillery guns were ordered from the Ordnance Factory Board, which will deliver 5 such guns to the Central Ordnance Depot of the Indian Army, situated in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. By the end of this year, if all goes well, an entire Dhanush regiment will be created by the army, which will not only comprise 18 guns in total but also be deployed alongside the borders of Pakistan and China.
With a caliber of 155×45 mm, the Dhanush artillery guns are the first indigenously developed guns of this calibre to be inducted into the Indian Army. Nicknamed the ‘Desi Bofors’, these artillery guns have a range of 38 km. In army parlance, it will be termed as ‘medium range artillery’. These guns have been developed with an aim to enhance the firepower of the Indian Army by inducting guns of a higher calibre.
This is not all. According to the media reports, Dhanush is also equipped with the state of the art technology, which will help the soldiers in locating the enemy targets with ease. Dhanush is equipped with a navigation-based sighting system, with onboard ballistic computation and an advanced, duly upgraded day and night direct-firing system. The self-propulsion unit allows the gun to deploy itself in mountainous terrain with ease.
This is not the first instance that the Indian Army is being equipped with indigenously built firepower in order to enhance its firepower capability. Just recently, a government order cleared the way for ‘Make In India’ standard multipurpose hand grenades, which will replace the existing cache of hand grenades and give more teeth to the Indian soldiers. Alongside, the soldiers will now be equipped with ultra modern Sig Sauer assault rifles and indigenously made AK 203 assault rifles.
Following the Uri terror attack, it was imperative for the Indian Army to acquire proper arms and ammunition and the Indian government is making sure the army gets the best weapons to keep the nation safe.
