Dhanush artillery gun (image: idrw.org)

India will be inducting the indigenously-made Dhanush howitzer into its Army on March 26.

"The Dhanush guns would be inducted into the Army at a ceremony to be held in Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), Jabalpur (located in Madhya Pradesh state) on March 26 where senior functionaries of the Army would be present," ANI quoted Army officials as saying Friday.

“There were several problems with the Dhanush guns during the trails… but most have been resolved now. The Army had earlier placed an order for 114 of these guns for INR 1,260 crore ($182 million). The first 18 guns will be delivered by March 2020. The OFB will gradually step up its production rate. Overall, the Army requires 414 such guns,” TOI quoted an officer as saying.

"Dhanush is equipped with inertial navigation-based sighting system, auto-laying facility, on-board 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," Indian Ministry of Defense had said in a statement in February.

Dhanush 155 mm x 45mm calibre gun is based on the 1980s’ Bofors FH-77B/39 calibre artillery gun’s design and aided by the transfer of technology (ToT) clause signed with the Swedish company AB Bofors of Sweden. The gun completed development trials in 2018 and was approved for series production in February 2019. It would be the third type of artillery gun to be inducted into the force after the South Korean K-9 Vajra and the America’s M-777 ultra-light howitzers. It has a strike range of 38 kilometres. The weapon is the first long-range artillery gun to be produced in India. 81% of its components are indigenously sourced.