India had developed its first 155mm gun..

[Kunal Biswas]

NEW DELHI: Defeating the ghost of Bofors scandal that has haunted successive Congress governments, the Indian Ordinance Factory Board (OFB) has set on a daunting task of manufacturing 100 Bofors artillery guns indigenous from scratch, nearly 24 years after the first of these Swedish guns were inducted into the Indian Army.The Indian Army has already placed an order with the OFB and the effort if successful will save the country millions and would give the country a capability to further improvise the guns to add punch to its firepower.

More Info:
http://expressbuzz.com/nation/100-ma...ns/367696.html
http://defencenow.com/news/556/army-...-with-ofb.html

[Kunal Biswas]

The Gun:



















































1. The body including the crane and auto loading will be rebuilt with Indian Raw material with help of given TOT

2. The Gun of 45cal which already in use by Indian Army will be fitted with the body

3. The electronic is produced by bel India will be added to the whole system

4. The ammo is produced already by OFB will be in use..

[CJvR]

It basicly looks like a longer version of the Bofors gun. I am a bit puzzled by a large batch of towed guns in this day and age, one would think SPA was the universally prefered option.

[Jµµso]

Towed guns can go to places where SPA's cannot go because of weight issues etc.

[Kunal Biswas]

Produced by the Ordnance Factory Board, these guns are 155 mm, 45 calibre howitzers. These look like Bofors and have the capacity to fire up to a distance of 32 km. These guns were tested near Pokhran in Rajasthan during May this year.Around 100 such guns have been ordered by the Army and are based more or less on the existing Bofors design for which the OFB holds the Transfer of Technology (ToT) licence from the Bofors. Research for the manufacture of a number of variants of the howitzer is underway and is nearing completion.

More at Source:
http://idrw.org/?p=13094

[twinblade]

So let me get the procurement plans straight:-

155mm/39 caliber towed howitzers:
M-777 deal close to being signed, 145 ordered (290 more optional), FH-77B running out of service life, roughly 200 remaining, OFB gun was supposed to be tested, status unknown.

155mm/45 caliber towed howitzer:

-180 M46 guns upgraded to 155mm/45 caliber by Soltam, mixed response with no repeat orders
-OFB rehash of FH-77B on Bofors ToT, 100 ordered (July 2012).


155mm/52 caliber towed howitzer:
-4 tenders cancelled, 5th in progress (Nexter (Caesar), Elbit(Soltam))
Requirement: 400 imports + 1180 domestic production as per the current tender.
-DRDO's gun might enter testing in 2013-2014, to become the backbone for indigenous towed, tracked and wheeled system.

155mm/52 caliber tracked howitzer:

-Bhim project successfully tested, suspended after blacklisting of Denel, status unknown, might be revived with indigenous gun.
-3 tenders cancelled, 4th in progress (Tata Power with Cenzin, RDM with Mahindra, BEML, Rosoboronexport, L&T & Samsung, Ashok Leyland)
Requirement : 100

155mm/52 caliber wheeled howitzer:
- 4 tenders cancelled, 5th in progress (Germany’s Rheinmetall Defence and Slovakia’s Konstrukta Defense)
Requirement : 180


155mm/52 caliber mounted howitzer:

Tender still on. Sweden’s Archer, French Ceaser, TPSED with Bosnia’s Unis gun systems and South Africa’s Denel (presently blacklisted), L&T, OFB with BEL and Bharat Forge.
Requirement: 200 imports+ 614 domestic production.

[Kunal Biswas]

180 M46 130mm/39 caliber guns upgraded to 155mm/45 caliber by Soltam

M46 130mm are of 46 caliber not 39, they are updated with Soltam are in 180 number but With OFB modified Kit their number are more than 100s..

[AustinJ]

Wonder if these OFB developed 155mm/45 cal gun could be Navalised and we could use it on our bigger surface ships.

[Kunal Biswas]

Wonder if these OFB developed 155mm/45 cal gun could be Navalised and we could use it on our bigger surface ships.

India we already make Licensed Naval guns of 76mm which is more than sufficient for the threads it need to handle..

[AustinJ]

India we already make Licensed Naval guns of 76mm which is more than sufficient for the threads it need to handle..

The Destroyers has larger A-190 100 mm gun of Russian Orgin so are the Talwar class Frigates.

They can always standardise on 155 mm Gun as standard gun for Large Destroyers of P-15A/B type and P-17A will allow larger caliber Shell with more brains. Plus its made by OFB

[Kunal Biswas]

The Destroyers has larger A-190 100 mm gun of Russian Orgin so are the Talwar class Frigates.

They can always standardise on 155 mm Gun as standard gun for Large Destroyers of P-15A/B type and P-17A will allow larger caliber Shell with more brains. Plus its made by OFB

And use of such large gun ? Bigger guns take bigger displacement of ship limiting other installation..

More Missiles would be better..


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Navy Guns are totally different from Land based guns which are easy to manufacture..

[AustinJ]

And use of such large gun ?

Bigger Firepower per rounds , longer range good for coastal bombardment and intelligent projectile with sensors

They can also develop rocket assisted rounds or use base bleed ammo for longer ranges ...something USN is working on.

Bottom line is to standardise on 155 mm Guns on Destroyers gives you enormous flexibility

[thounaojamtom]

Any new Update on Bhim?

[Kunal Biswas]

Bottom line is to standardise on 155 mm Guns on Destroyers gives you enormous flexibility

To do shore bombardment and warning shots and sinking small Pyrate Ships you dont need big 155mm..

Watch this:



We make a variant of this gun, And we can update our guns to this config..

Licensed produce ammo too.

[Lt-Col A. Tack]

Very informative thread, sir. Thank you.