The initial indigenous development of artillery guns in India started in the 1970s with the Artillery Gun Development Team under
Brigadier Gurdyal Singh at
Gun Carriage Factory, Jabalpur. This resulted in the introduction of 105 mm
Indian Field Gun and its variant, the Light Field Gun into the
Indian Army. The purchase of
Haubits FH77 guns manufactured by
Bofors in the 1980s included
technology transfer to
Ordnance Factory Board (OFB). After many years being unable to acquire or import foreign artillery guns due to the
corruption charges, OFB developed the Dhanush gun based on the technical data package, a 12,000 page document, that was delivered parallelly with the FH77. Improvements and modernisation of the original construction included lengthening the gun barrel from 39 calibres to 45,
inertial navigation-based sighting system, auto-laying facility, onboard ballistic computation and an advanced day and night direct firing system. So far, around 2,000 rounds were successfully fired from the gun and the Army asked for six howitzers. Battery trials, with six guns that were delivered, began in April 2017 with "another round" scheduled in June. The trials were expected to be completed by July 2017 with 18 guns entering service in 2017, 36 guns in 2018, and 60 guns in 2019, for an Indian Army order of 114 guns. Each regiment has 18 guns. The Dhanush experienced a few problem during trials, failing on three occasions in a row in 2017. It was reported in July 2017 that the howitzer failed the last phase of testing, due to the shell hitting the
muzzle brake. A redesign of the barrel by widening it was being considered to solve the issue. Later an investigation revealed the incident happened due to a defective shell. Further trials were conducted by firing about 5000 shells in the desert regions and icy glaciers of the
Himalayas without any incident. In June 2018, Dhanush completed final development trials. As part of the trials, all the six guns – which formed a
battery – fired 50 shells each between 2 and 6 June. Additionally, 12 prototypes were built in total, which fired 4,200 rounds during development. On 18 February 2019, the gun officially received bulk production clearance (BPC) from the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The investigation is still underway as of 2025.
Manufacturing The first batch of 6 guns were officially inducted by the Army on 8 April 2019. A manufacturing disruption had occurred later due to the untimely procurement of a spare part needed for a sub-assembly. The production of Dhanush has restarted following a pause due to the shortage of the spare part. In FY2023–2024, Advance Weapons and Equipment India Limited (AWEIL) intends to deliver the Indian Army with further 26 units of the gun. With this, the Army will have total 50 Dhanush howitzers. Accidents such as barrel bursts and muzzle brake strikes had marred the early years of manufacturing. At that point, the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) was in charge of the Gun Carriage Factory in Jabalpur. New terms and conditions were signed with the new entity AWEIL following the corporatization. According to the revised terms, the delivery is proceeding as planned. Initially, the order was scheduled to be executed by 2022, which was then shifted to March 2026. Between March 2024 and June 2025, the second regiment was raised by the Indian Army. Reports had earlier indicated the Indian Army's plans to acquire 300 additional howitzers of the type to equip 15 artillery regiments.
Ammunition Ramjet-Propelled Artillery Shell Smart Artillery Shell ==Variants==